The fun vibes continued at Citi Field on Thursday night as the New York Mets (54-48) began a critical four-game series against the Atlanta Braves (54-47). After sweeping the Yankees in the Subway Series, the Mets extended their win streak to four games thanks to Jeff McNeil‘s walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th to seal a 3-2 win.
With the victory, New York is now 1/2 game behind Atlanta for the first wild card spot in the National League.
McNeil came to the plate with two men on and two outs against Pierce Johnson. On a 1-o count, the left fielder hit a ball into right that Ramon Laureano over-ran to drive in Jose Iglesias. While it was only the Mets’ third hit of the night, it was all the offense that they needed.
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Atlanta got on the board first in the top of the second with a two-out rally. Ramon Laureano picked up a leadoff single and stole second base. He would later come around to score on a base hit to right by Orlando Arcia.
The Mets answered right back in the bottom of the third against Chris Sale. Tyrone Taylor would work a one-out walk. Two batters later, Francisco Lindor took the first pitch and drove it over the wall in center for a two-run shot. His 22nd home run of the year and fifth in the last four days gave New York a 2-1 lead.
Unfortunately, the Mets’ offense could not do much against Sale. The Lindor home run was their last hit against the Atlanta left-hander. Sale went 7 1/3 innings, allowed two runs on two hits, walked a batter, and struck out nine on 94 pitches (66 strikes) in a no-decision.
Severino was able to settle into the game, but the Braves got to him in the sixth. Marcell Ozuna led off the inning with a walk, and Matt Olson singled to center to put runners on the corners. That would set the stage for former Met Travis d’Arnaud as he hit a broken bat single over the glove of Mark Vientos into left to tie the game at two.
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Carlos Mendoza would go to the bullpen and bring in José Buttó for damage control. Buttó did just that. He struck out Eddie Rosario and Nacho Alvarez Jr. (both swinging) and got Laureano to fly out to the track in center to end the inning and close Severino’s line.
On the night, Severino went five innings, allowed two runs on seven hits, walked two, and struck out six on 95 pitches (57 strikes) in a no-decision.
After Buttó got out of trouble in the sixth, he was dominant against the Braves offense. The right-hander retired all nine batters he faced and struck out four batters on 40 pitches (25 strikes). It is the most outs Buttó has recorded as a reliever this season. Opponents are 3-for-4o with 17 strikeouts against him as a reliever this year.
In the ninth, Edwin Díaz encountered trouble when he walked Rosario to lead off the frame. Whit Merrifield would come in to pinch-run and steal second. After an Alvarez strikeout, Merrifield tried to steal third, but Francisco Alvarez threw him out to get the closer out of trouble (inning ended on a Laureano strikeout).
Phil Maton came on for the 10th inning and ultimately got the win. The Braves ran themselves out of an inning. Arcia moved the lead runner to third with a sacrifice bunt. Then, with Jarred Kelenic up, Atlanta attempted the suicide squeeze and it did not work at all. The bullpen as a whole did not allow a hit over five innings (six strikeouts, one walk)
McNeil didn’t hit a home run, but his single gave the Mets their seventh walk-off win of the year. He redeemed himself after getting thrown out at second on an infield single in the second inning. The 32-year-old has nine RBIs over the last six games and multiple hits in each of the last three games.
The Braves and Mets will continue their four-game series on Friday night. You can watch the game on SNY at 7:10 p.m. ET. Kodai Senga will make his 2024 debut for the Mets against Charlie Morton (5-5, 3.92 ERA) for the Braves.
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