The Mets completed a sweep of the freefalling Braves with a 10-2 rout Sunday at Turner Field, in a game that officially eliminated the Braves from playoff contention and was a microcosm of the failings of manager Fredi Gonzalez’s team this season and particularly in September.
Their eighth loss in nine games left the Braves eight games behind the Pirates for the second and final wild-card spot with only seven games left on the schedules of both teams.
There were 10 strikeouts in the first five innings against Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, by a Braves team that’s struck out more than any other National League team except the youthful Marlins.
There were only four hits and no homers for the Braves, who entered Sunday with a majors-worst .207 batting average and only six homers in September. They produced five hits or fewer for the eighth time in 18 games in the month.
There was Andrelton Simmons grounding into an inning-ending double play with two on in the sixth inning, the 24th time he’s grounded into a double play, second-most in the NL. (The Braves’ Chris Johnson is third with 22 double plays grounded into.)
There was the Braves going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, lowering their average another tick to .238 with runners in scoring position, fourth-worst in the majors.
And there were a meager two runs scored by the Braves, marking the 60th time in 155 games they have mustered two or fewer runs. They fell to 8-52 in those games.
General manager Frank Wren, who has come under considerable fire for assembling this dysfunctional offense, watched stoicly from his suite above the field behind home plate. Some familiar with the situation believe Wren is more likely to be fired than Gonzalez, though neither appears to have much job security at this point.
Hitting coaches Greg Walker and Scott Fletcher will almost certainly not be retained by the Braves, and other coaches could also be dismissed.
The Braves have totaled 15 runs and one home run during their 1-8 collapse from playoff contention, an almost incomprehensibly bad stretch that began with being swept in three games at Texas by a Rangers team with the worst record in baseball. Atlanta has lost 11 of 13 games and scored two runs or fewer in all but four of those 13 games.
The only thing that wasn’t typical of their recent performance Sunday was the outing by Braves starter Ervin Santana (14-10), who gave up five runs, six hits and two walks in five innings.
Braves starters lead the majors with 107 quality starts, and Santana had been 7-1 with a 2.91 ERA in nine home starts going back to July 4, with 58 strikeouts and 18 walks in 58 2/3 innings. If he or any other Braves starter is showing any signs of pitching with the added pressure of consistently poor offensive support, not a soul who’s watched the Braves this season would blame him.
The Mets got a run after a leadoff hit in each of the first two innings, then scored three in the fourth to push the lead to 5-0. After a one-out walk by Curtis Granderson in the fourth, Santana was stung by this three-batter sequence: Kirk Nieuwenhuis double, Anthony Recker sacrifice fly (and terrible throw by center fielder B.J. Upton), and Ruben Tejada home run.
The Mets’ sweep gave them a 10-9 season-series win over the Braves, who are now just a half-game ahead of third-place New York in the NL East standings. The Braves are also just two games ahead of fourth-place Miami in the East, having already lost 10 of 19 against the Marlins this season.
The Braves are 1-5 on a 10-game homestand that concludes with four games against the Pirates beginning Monday — games that no longer have the significance many expected before the Braves laid an egg on their 2-7 road trip that ended at Texas.
They can’t catch the Pirates now, and the Braves need to win five of their remaining games against the Pirates and at Philadelphia just to avoid their first losing season since going 72-90 in 2008.
DeGrom is 8-1 with a 1.90 ERA in his past 12 starts, a stretch that began with seven shutout innings against the Braves on July 8. In his past two starts against Atlanta, the right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 13 innings.
For a complete write-thru version of this story including postgame quotes, go to MyAJC.com or use this link.
