Fighting for their playoff lives, the Braves dropped below .500 again with a 5-0 loss to the Mets Friday night at Turner Field.
The Braves (76-77) are staggering toward the season’s finish. Their tragic number for playoff elimination now stands at three games following the loss and the Pirates come-from-behind win over the Brewers. With just nine games remaining, the Braves’ postseason chances are bleak. The Braves fell to 24-34 since the All-Star Break.
The Braves (76-77) are staggering toward the season’s finish. Their tragic number for playoff elimination now stands at three games following the loss and the Pirates come-from-behind win over the Brewers. With just nine games remaining in the season, the Braves postseason chances are bleak. The Braves fell to 24-34 since the All-Star Break.
The Braves’ offense continued to struggle with only the final Friday Night Fireworks of the year lighting up the sky. The Braves have scored just 10 runs in their last seven games, six of which have been losses. With such offensive woes, one pitching mistake can make the difference. It did Friday.
The Mets got the two-out hit. The Braves did not.
The Mets broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Lucas Duda crushed a two-run, two out homer to right field off Braves starter Julio Teheran. Duda’s 28th homer of the season came after Daniel Murphy hit a one-out ground-rule double, his third of four hits on the night.
For the Braves, Christian Bethancourt came up twice with two out and two on and failed to deliver. He hit a sharp grounder to second to end the first inning and a fly ball to center to end the third inning, both times with runners on first and second. Justin Upton ended the fifth inning with a strikeout in the same situation.
Local product Zach Wheeler (11-10) worked six innings for the Mets, allowing no runs and five hits while striking out seven for the victory. Still some bad news for the Mets, they were officially eliminated from the postseason with the Pirates victory.
Teheran (13-13) worked seven innings for the Braves, allowing two runs, seven hits while striking out six in the loss. The Braves offense has scored a total of just five runs in Teheran’s last five starts (1-4).
Andrelton Simmons, nursing a left ankle injury, had three hits for the Braves. He never advanced past second base, including following his fifth-inning double. No other Braves player got that far.
As if they needed it, the Mets pushed three run across in the ninth inning, the last two with two outs. Reliever Jordan Walden allowed a one-out single followed by three straight walks. Luis Avilan got a strikeout but then allowed a two-run single to Eric Young Jr.
