The Braves produced what for them was a rarity, a two-homer, four-run inning. That gave Matt Wisler a three-run lead against the Mets, a team that brings out the best in the rookie pitcher.
Wisler had a career-high eight strikeouts in seven innings and got solid support from the lineup and bullpen in a 6-2 win Tuesday against the Mets at Citi Field, the fourth win in five games for the Braves as they try to finish strong in a season turned dismal in the second half.
All the runs in the Braves’ four-run fifth inning came were provided by Jace Peterson’s leadoff homer and Hector Olivera’s two-run homer, which opened a 4-1 lead. Adonis Garcia’s two-run, two-out double in the ninth capped the Braves’ scoring against the National league East leaders.
“Bottom line, we aren’t chasing a playoff (berth), but we are here to play hard,” Olivera said through a translator, “and we’re not here to give games away. We’re going to play hard and work hard and try to win every game we can.”
In his first win in nearly two months, Wisler (6-8) was charged with five hits, two runs and one walk in seven innings. He left with a 4-1 lead after issuing a leadoff walk to Curtis Granderson in the eighth.
After giving up a David Wright homer and Daniel Murphy double off the center-field wall on consecutive at-bats in the first inning, Wisler allowed only three hits over the next five innings, and Murphy’s ground-rule double in the sixth was the only extra-base hit in that span.
“He pitched aggressively,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “The only pimple, and A.J. (Pierzynski) talked to him about it, was walking the guy leading off the eighth inning. With Granderson it’s not hard to do, because he doesn’t swing at anything that’s off the plate. You’ve got to throw the ball over the plate to make him swing.
“But I thought (Wisler) did a tremendous job. And we scored some runs, had some added-on runs with Garcia coming off the bench. Those are two big runs there.”
Peterson’s leadoff homer and Olivera’s three-run shot accounted for all the scoring in a fifth inning that provided a 4-1 lead for the Braves, their highest single-inning output in exactly one month. They scored five in the fifth inning of a 9-7 loss Aug. 22 at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
“I don’t even know when’s the last time we hit two home runs in one inning. That was a big four-spot there,” said Gonzalez, whose Braves swept the last-place Phillies before embarking on this final road trip of the season.
They snapped a five-game losing streak against the Mets and evened the series at a game apiece. With a win Wednesday, the Braves could collect their third series win in the past 11, and their first in that stretch against a team other than the Phillies.
The Mets have lost five of seven games but retained a commanding 6 ½-game lead over Washington with 11 to play. If the Mets won six of their remaining 11, the Nationals could win all 12 of their remaining games and still finish behind New York.
After Granderson walked to start the eighth, he came around to score on Michael Cuddyer’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Edwin Jackson, the fourth pitcher used by the Braves in the inning. Peter Moylan replaced Wisler and gave up a single by David Wright, and Matt Marksberry faced two batters and had a pop-up and a walk that loaded the bases before Jackson entered and retired both batters he faced.
Wisler improved to 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA in three starts against the Mets, the only team he’s beaten more than once and the lowest ERA he’s posted against any of the 13 teams he’s faced. The 22-year-old right-hander limited the Mets to six hits and one run in eight innings in his June 19 major league debut, and Wisler’s best performance since then was Tuesday’s outing against the Mets in his 17th major league start.
“He had much better command today than the last time we saw him,” Mets manager Terry Collins said, referring to a Sept. 11 game when Wisler allowed seven hits, two runs and three walks in six innings of a loss to the Mets. “He really stayed on the outside part of the plate to righties. We always knew he had a good slider. We all know his breaking ball is very, very good. But down in Atlanta the other day he was missing. We got him in deep counts where he had to come in to us, similar to some of the mistakes we made today.”
It was Wisler’s first win since working seven strong innings (seven hits, two runs) against the Cardinals on July 26. Wisler was 5-1 with a 3.43 ERA in seven starts to that point, but since then he’d posted an 0-7 record and 7.71 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) before Tuesday.
His three best starts this season have been against division leaders: the Mets (twice) and the Cardinals.
With the Braves trailing 1-0, Peterson led off the fifth inning by pulling a 3-2 changeup over the fence in the right-field corner. It was his sixth homer of the season and first since Aug. 3.
One out later, Michael Bourn singled and advanced on Wisler’s sacrifice before the Mets intentionally walked Nick Markakis to bring up 30-year-old rookie Olivera. The Cuban third baseman took two 90-mph fastballs for balls, and when Logan Verrett threw another fastball on the outer edge of the plate, Olivera reached out and crushed it, driving it well past the left-center field fence for his second homer in his 18th major league game and 58th at-bat.
“The plan’s always the same – just look for a good pitch to drive,” Olivera said. “It just so happened I got a good pitch where I could extend my arms, and the home run came.”
Olivera had not driven in a run in 11 games since Sept. 7, when he had four RBIs with a double and his first homer in his sixth major league game.
The two homers in the inning were just the sixth and seventh of September for the Braves in 21 games, and raised their majors-low total to 90 for the season. They need 10 homers in their final 10 games to avoid being the first Atlanta team to hit fewer than 100 homers since the 1988 team hit 96.
