Mets vs. Braves Recap: Gsellman excellent, offense adequate

Instead of entering their usual Sunday malaise, the Mets topped the Braves 5-1 in Atlanta. Robert Gsellman led the way, tossing seven excellent innings, and the offense rallied late to put the game out of reach for a bad Braves team.

The Mets got off to a fast start against Teheran thanks to some excellent plate discipline. Nori Aoki worked a seven pitch walk to start the game, and Jose Reyes followed by ripping a triple down the right field line to give the Mets a quick 1-0 lead. Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith would follow that triple with walks of their own (sandwiching a stikeout by Kevin Plawekci), and the Mets would push another run across on a ground out from Amed Rosario. Before Robert Gsellman even had to take the field, the Mets had a 2-0 lead.

Teherean would settle in after his rough first inning, and the Mets would manage only three baserunners over the next five innings (a walk to Brandon Nimmo and two singles from Aoki). Robert Gsellman made that bounceback irrelevant, as he smothered the Braves offense. Over the first six innings, the 24-year-old right hander allowed only three hits (a double to Freddie Freeman and two other singles), striking out three and holding Atlanta off the board.

That shutout would end in the seventh, though it was very much not Gsellman’s fault. Amed Rosario made errors on back to back plays, putting runners on first and second with one out. A ground out from Jace Peterson pushed one of those runners across, giving Atlanta an unearned run, scored without a hit or a walk. Unrattled, Gsellman retired Kurt Suzuki on a pop out to end the inning, preserving a 2-1 lead.

Jerry Blevins entered in the eighth, ending Gsellman’s night. He finished with seven innings of one run ball, striking out three and allowing only three hits. It was a nice bounce back after a rough outing in Chicago earlier this week, as well as his second straight strong start in Atlanta (he threw 6.2 scoreless innings in early June). Blevins continued the strong Met pitching performance, working around a walk and striking out two Braves to preserve the Met lead heading to the ninth inning.

Rosario did his best to atone for his two errors in the ninth, reaching on an infield single with one out in the ninth before stealing a base. He then scored on the first RBI hit from Phillip Evans, a double that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Asdrubal Cabrera added even more cushion with as a pinch hitter, launching a two-run home run that stretched the Met lead to four runs.

AJ Ramos came on for the bottom of the ninth and did his best to make things interesting even with a four run lead. Johan Camargo singled and Matt Adams worked a walk, but Ramos induced a weak ground out to escape the threat and preserve the 5-1 victory.

With the win, the Mets improve to 65-84, which should hold them in fifth or sixth place in the reverse standings. They’ll head to Miami on Monday to start a three game set with the Marlins with Matt Harvey on the mound before returning home to face Washington later this week.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Robert Gsellman, +32.2% WPA; Jerry Blevins, +14.1% WPA
Big losers: None
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jose Reyes hits an RBI triple in the first, +14.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Dansby Swanson reaches on a fielding error by Amed Rosario in the seventh, -10.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +48.0% WPA
Total batter WPA: +2.0% WPA
GWRBI!: Amed Rosario