The Atlanta Braves' Connor Thomas took the mound in the eighth inning, but his outing was short-lived as the Mets crushed him in a 14-3 rout.
The game had started on a promising note, with Ronald Acuña Jr. returning to the lineup after missing six weeks. In his first major league PA in a while, Acuña fell behind 0-2 against Zac Thornton but battled back to 3-2 before knocking a pitch down the middle for a solid single.
Martin Perez did not have a shutdown first inning, giving up a leadoff hit and a hard liner single that scored the Braves' first run. Francisco Lindor got his arms extended on a cutter on the edge away and nearly hit it out of the park, eventually getting an RBI triple.
In the bottom half of the third, Lindor took a Perez pitch on the outer edge and pulled it into left for a two-run homer. Perez was hitting his spots, but it didn't matter. That score didn't last long, as Ronald Acuña Jr. made his return to the lineup and Ronald Acuña Jr. hit into a double play to end the top of the fifth.
The bottom of the fifth was one of those ridiculous things. With the rain becoming a serious downpour, Perez kept laboring, eventually falling behind 3-1 to Jared Young but ultimately striking him out. That seemed like it was a middle portion of an exciting game, especially as the rain began to dissipate, but… nope.
The Braves chased Thornton in the seventh but didn't manage any damage. It didn't really end up mattering, as Connor Thomas took the mound in the eighth and got crushed. The Mets scored seven runs in the inning, with Thomas giving up a walk, a single, a massive homer, and a three-run homer to Lindor.
The Braves made 14 straight outs on their end to finish the game, but a lot of those happened when it was pretty irrelevant what they did. Perez did okay, with a 4/1 K/BB ratio in five frames, but he did give up the homer. Thomas' line was really bad, but the Braves made this choice, and will ultimately live with it.
Acuña ended up going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in his return. Other than Ozzie Albies, no Brave reached base more than once on a soggy night. The series theoretically continues tomorrow, but the Mets' dominance in this game will surely give the Braves something to think about as they head into the next matchup.
Source: Yahoo Sports