Braves receive parting gift from Mets in final meeting of season

Music blared throughout the Braves’ clubhouse on Sunday afternoon, as players finished packing their luggage for the team’s upcoming road trip.

The livelier atmosphere is unrepresentative of the team’s 2025 campaign. But even with a 59-71 record and a 10-game deficit in the Wild Card race, the club can still celebrate one stability: its torment of the division-rival Mets.

And the Braves received one final gift to end the season series.

“Happy flight on the road trip,” Sean Murphy said after the team’s 4-3 victory at Truist Park. “So (a win) is always good news.”

The victory will not swing the pendulum on the Braves’ 2025 campaign — the club would need a miracle to even sniff the playoffs — but it still marks a win during a year that has gone off the rails in almost every way possible for the Braves.

And there were positives.

Starting pitcher Bryce Elder turned in a solid outing that consisted of six innings of two earned runs, while the Braves’ bullpen held the Mets to one run in relief. Both came after the club allowed 21 runs in two games to open the series.

“Kind of got in the groove early,” Elder said. “I think I’ve been throwing the ball alright — some of the results haven’t been that good — so I think I made some good pitches today and just kind of kept rolling with it.”

Elder’s shown through his five-plus seasons with the Braves’ organization that he possesses the tools required to be a major-league pitcher. (Remember, he was an All-Star just two seasons ago.) But the 26-year-old lacks consistency.

Four of his last seven outings consisted of two (three times) and three earned runs for a 3.28 ERA. But sandwiched in between those are starts with eight (two times) and five earned runs tagged to him, which would equate to an ERA surpassing 14.00.

The instability is something Elder recognizes he needs to improve if he wants to be a consistent arm in the Braves’ starting rotation, and he believes it will with more innings.

“I think it’s a matter of just staying (in the rotation), keep making starts and trying to keep the team in the game,” Elder said. “I think it’s kind of something that just over time, the more innings you get in the big leagues, (the more) you can learn.”

Elder kept the Braves in the game on Sunday afternoon until the club’s offense broke through in the sixth inning. Murphy slapped a two-run single into right field to tie the game, and Jurickson Profar drove in the go-ahead run two innings later.

Murphy’s pair of knocks snapped a 0-for-24 skid at the plate, which marked the longest active streak in the National League at the time and the second-longest in MLB. He also walked, later scoring on Profar’s RBI-single.

“It’s just relief,” Murphy said of breaking out of the slump. “Felt like it was a while since the last time I was helping on the offensive side of the ball. A couple of RBIs, it feels pretty good today.”

Murphy said he tried “just about everything” to end his misfortune. He worked on his swing path and focused on his timing at the plate. But the calm-natured catcher shared that he never “got too down” despite the boiling frustrations.

And the patience paid off in the Braves 4-3 victory, capping off their eighth consecutive year taking the season series from the Mets. (The Braves won eight of the 13 games in 2025.)

“It’s great,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That was a big win, obviously, after the last two days. Big hits and got another really good outing against the Mets by Bryce. Bullpen was really good.”

The Braves will travel to Miami, Philadelphia and Chicago (Cubs) before returning to Truist Park on Sept. 5 to face the Mariners. The road trip will see the return of Chris Sale, who Snitker said he is expecting to start on Saturday.

Drake Baldwin against left-handers

A perplexing moment occurred in the sixth inning of the game when outfielder Eli White pinch-hit for Nick Allen with the go-ahead run on second base and a tied score. The Braves’ best non-starting hitter, rookie Drake Baldwin, was left on the bench.

Baldwin would have faced a left-hander — which the lefty is hitting .283 against, slightly better than his .276 mark against right-handers — but Snitker did not want to lose his backup catcher that early in the game.

A similar situation occurred in the eighth inning, but the Braves had no reserve infielders left to play the field if Baldwin replaced shortstop Vidal Bruján at the plate.