Going into the bottom of the eighth inning it seemed the Braves might have missed their chance to grab a victory Monday night. In the blink of an eye the Braves took advantage of several defensive miscues that resulted in a 5-3 victory over the Mets.
The Braves continued the momentum they have put together on the road trip, where they went 8-3, to pick up their fifth straight victory. It wasn’t the prettiest turn of events but the Braves were able to put together a four-run innings thanks to three errors by the Mets.
The decisive inning started with two line drive singles by Justin Upton and Jason Heyward off of Mets reliever Jeurys Familia. Chris Johnson followed with what looked to be a potential double-play comebacker, but instead Familia made a low throw to second base that led to everyone being safe making it bases loaded nobody out. Tommy La Stella followed with a single up the middle that led to two runs courtesy of a Juan Ligares error in center.
After a Bethancourt fielder’s choice, a Doumit walk, and a B.J. Upton strikeout; it set the scene for Andrelton Simmons with the bases loaded and 2-outs with the chance to give the Braves a lead. On cue, the Mets defense gifted the Braves the go-ahead run after Simmons hit a chopper to the third baseman Campbell who dropped the ball and rushed a throw that took the first baseman Duda off the bag.
When you consider that Alex Wood began the game giving up a leadoff homerun to Curtis Granderson, it wasn’t too bad of an outing. Now Wood didn’t have good command early in the game as it took him 68 pitches to get through the first three innings at which he allowed three runs. It could have been much worse for Wood as he had loaded the bases with one out in the 3rd, but luckily limited the damage only surrendering the one run on a sac-fly by Chris Young.
After a mound visit in the 3rd inning, Wood settled down and retired 11 straight hitters to end his outing. It only took him 38 pitches to get through his last three innings. Wood’s final box score came out to 6 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, while striking out 7 and walking only 1.
Jason Heyward helped Wood’s cause in the fifth inning with a great defensive play. Take a look.
Zack Wheeler was able to go 6 1/3 innings for the Mets only giving up the 1 run on a Freddie Freeman sac-fly that scored B.J. Upton. Wheeler did have problems with command as he walked five batters, but he was able to make pitches to get out of jams.
Good things happen when you put the ball in play, and it was nice to see the Braves offense take that approach throughout the game especially in the eighth inning. You never know what the defense is going to do when you have base runners on late in the game. It worked out tonight for Atlanta as they grabbed their fifth straight win and look to make it six tomorrow night with Mike Minor on the mound.
The only thing that dampens the mood for the Braves was the news that catcher Evan Gattis is going on the DL with a bulging thoracic disc. Gattis looked to be on his way to Minnesota for the All-Star game as he led all ML catchers with 16 homeruns. Hopefully with the epidural and time on disabled list, it will help Gattis get back on the field soon after the All-Star break.