NEW YORK – After Matt Kemp’s 12th-inning two-run double gave them a stirring 3-1 win Wednesday, the Braves liked their chances of clinching a season-opening road series win over the highly regarded Mets, which might effectively carry forward the momentum Atlanta finished with in 2016.
But while Kemp’s torrid hitting continued Thursday with two no-doubt-about-it home runs off Mets starter Matt Harvey, both came with bases empty. His one-man offensive show wasn’t nearly enough for the Braves in a 6-2 loss on a chilly, damp night at Citi Field in left-hander Jaime Garcia’s Braves debut.
“Pitching usually prevails in weather like this,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “But it’s good to see Matt swinging the bat like he is. And hopefully we can join him here shortly.”
Garcia gave up six hits and four runs in six innings, including a two-run homer by Wilmer Flores in the sixth that pushed the lead to 4-1. Garcia was the first lefty to start a game for the Braves since Manny Banuelos in September 2015.
The Braves lost two of three and continue an eight-game, three-city trip Friday at Pittsburgh with the opener of a three-game series against the Pirates.
Kemp hit his second solo homer with two out in the seventh to chase Harvey from the game. It was a line drive to left field that caromed off a the second-deck façade and had an exit velocity of 111.9 mph according to Statcast. (The highest exit velocity of any of Kemp’s 35 homers in 2016 was 110.4 mph.)
The 11th multi-homer game of Kemp’s career gave him six hits in the first three games, all of the extra-base hit variety including four doubles. He had three doubles Wednesday.
The Braves have scored five runs in 30 innings this season and Kemp has driven in four.
Harvey allowed only one non-Kemp hit – a Nick Markakis infield single – in 6 2/3 innings and had four strikeouts with no walks, improving to 11-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 16 career starts in April. It was the first regular-season game for Harvey since having Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery in July.
“He did his job; he got outs,” Kemp said. “We couldn’t really get anything going. Hats off to them. We play them (again) at the end of the month. But now we’ve got to worry about Pittsburgh and see where we go from there.”
Kemp’s homers accounted for the only two runs the Braves managed in three games against formidable Mets starters Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Harvey, who totaled 17 strikeouts with one walk in 18 2/3 innings.
The Braves were 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position in the series including 1-for-3 Thursday.
“We had our opportunities, we just didn’t come through today,” Freeman said. “We didn’t come through all series, really. It’s pretty much been Matt Kemp this series for the offense. Hopefully we can join him in Pittsburgh and put up some more runs, because the pitchers deserve better than this.”
Snitker pointed out the challenge of facing that Mets trio coming directly out of spring training and Freeman said, “Those are probably the three best starters, all top-10 starters in the National League when Harvey’s healthy.”
Harvey faced the minimun 12 batters through four innings before Kemp’s leadoff homer in the fifth gave the Braves a 1-0 lead, but that wouldn’t hold for long and the Braves couldn’t muster offense from anyone but Kemp.
“The whole series they were throwing a lot more sliders than they normally do,” Freeman said of the Mets’ starters. “So we’ll put that in our brains and see these guys in two weeks.”
Garcia faced one batter over the minimum through four innings, giving up a single and double in that span and inducing a double-play grounder. But after Kemp staked him to a 1-0 lead in the fifth, Garcia gave it up in the bottom of the inning.
Neil Walker’s one-out single was followed by a Jay Bruce walk before Travis d’Arnaud, the brother of Braves utility man Chase d’Arnaud, doubled to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.
“(Garcia’s) frst four innings were really good,” Snitker said. “Real efficient, ball looked like it was moving really good. Couple of walks, then it looked like they were both breaking balls on the two-run double and the homer. Looked like they went right into the swing and came back over the plate. Just didn’t locate real good.
“But the way Harvey was going, any runs were probably too many tonight with him, because (Harvey) was really, really good. He just pounded the strike zone with everything tonight.”
Flores’ sixth-inning homer also came immediately after a walk issued by Garcia, who had two walks with no strikeouts and lost his fourth consecutive start against the Mets. He had an 8.00 ERA in two starts against them last season with the Cardinals, after going 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA in the first five starts of his career against the Mets.
After Kemp cut the Mets’ lead to 4-2 with his seventh-inning homer, reliever Chaz Roe gave up two hits and two runs (one earned) in the bottom of the seventh to push the lead to 6-2.
