Jake Odorizzi had another rough outing as the Braves lost to the Mets, 9-7, in the third game of the series at Truist Park Wednesday night. The loss snapped Atlanta’s eight-game winning streak.

The Braves are 72-47. Here are five observations:

1. Give Odorizzi this: He has been accountable after every start.

“I haven’t thrown the ball the way I’m capable of here – there’s no sugarcoating it,” he said. “And it’s frustrating, especially being a new guy coming over wanting to make an impact and do well. Nobody’s tougher on me than me, and I’ll continue to be that way. I’ve always been that way in my career, and I think it’s gotten me to this point of never being satisfied and being honest with myself. I’ve always tried to be a good self-evaluator and right now I’m just not pitching the way I’m capable of.”

The Mets homered three times off of him as they jumped out to an early four-run lead. Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor launched back-to-back bombs in the first. In the second inning, Brett Baty took Odorizzi deep for a two-run shot in his first big-league at-bat.

This was Odorizzi’s third start since the club acquired him from Houston for Will Smith. None of those outings have been good. But he made an adjustment during Wednesday’s rain delay, and eventually finished five innings while allowing five runs.

2. Robbie Grossman sent a ball flying over the brick wall in right field, electrifying the home crowd and perhaps making you believe a magical comeback could occur. The three-run homer – which made this a one-run game – could have been a huge momentum shift that could have swung the game for good.

Not this time.

Braves Robbie Grossman hits a 3-RBI home run to cut the New York Mets lead to 6-5 during the seventh inning in a MLB baseball game on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, in Atlanta.   “Curtis Compton / Curtis Compton@ajc.com

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

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Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

After the Braves trimmed the deficit to a run, Mets closer Edwin Diaz tore through the heart of their order in the eighth. In the ninth, Jackson Stephens surrendered three runs, which all but sealed this one. The Braves brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after Vaughn Grissom’s two-run single, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

“You know it’s going to be a tough ride facing (Mets ace Max Scherzer) and to give up runs early is kind of a tough hill to climb, but we did,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We got back into it, which is good. The guys kept battling and scraping and, in the ninth, it kind of got away from us a little bit. But still, we brought the tying run to the plate again, so that’s good.”

The Braves got Scherzer out of the game in the seventh. Not long after, Grossman hit his second homer in as many games.

“It’s a great team,” Grossman said. “Obviously this team’s in the position it is because of the guys in this clubhouse. Just lucky to be a part of it.”

3. During the 34-minute rain delay, Odorizzi went to the weight room, looked at himself in the mirror and began breaking down his mechanics. He made an adjustment there, doing his best to set his back leg before beginning his mechanics on a pitch.

It worked.

When play resumed, he retired six straight Mets before a single and double in the sixth chased him. But Odorizzi felt the adjustment he made could be a positive in an otherwise tough night.

4. The Braves had options other than Stephens in the top of the ninth inning, like Kenley Jansen or Raisel Iglesias. Maybe even someone else. They trailed by a run.

But Snitker said Jansen won’t pitch unless the Braves have a lead or are in a tie game.

“We’re not going to do that,” he said of pitching Jansen in that spot. “We got too many games to play. And when we do that, we’re going to have leads that he’s not going to be available to pitch, so we just got to have other guys step up and do that. You can’t do that. You’ll kill these guys. No. That’s why you have that many guys. We’re not going to go chase something when we’re down.”

Braves pitcher Freddy Tarnok delivers against the New York Mets during the ninth inning in a MLB baseball game on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, in Atlanta.   “Curtis Compton / Curtis Compton@ajc.com

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

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Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

5. Freddy Tarnok, the righty the club called up on Tuesday, debuted in the ninth inning. It was a difficult spot, but it turned into a nice moment as he achieved a dream.

He allowed a run-scoring double to the first batter he faced, but set down the next two. The run was not charged to Tarnok.

Stat to know

8 - The Braves’ pitching staff on Wednesday gave up eight extra-base hits, which marks only the fourth time this season the group has allowed at least seven.

Quotable

“Obviously, I’m not happy with tonight. It’s really unfortunate. Our position players absolutely played their a—- off, and that’s really encouraging to see. There was no give-up, there was no roll-over. You’re proud to be on a team that’s like that grinding at-bats out.” - Odirizzi

Up next

Max Fried will come off the seven-day concussion injured list to start Thursday’s series finale against Jacob deGrom and the Mets. First pitch is at 7:20 p.m.

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