Brandon Nimmo homers, not much else goes right for Mets

The Atlanta Braves won the first game of this four-game series against the Mets by the score of 4-2. The Braves winning games against the Mets has been a theme this season, as Atlanta has taken 10 of the 13 duels between the two squads.

Jason Vargas started for the Amazins, and it was pretty similar to the rest of his starts this season. The Braves got to work in a hurry with Ronald Acuna Jr. lacing a ball down the left field line and, with a little help from Michael Conforto, reaching third base with his first career triple. Ozzie Albies capitalized on the situation and promptly singled to left, bringing Acuna home and putting the Braves on top 1-0. Things got a bit dicey after a Nick Markakis walk, but Vargas was able to escape the inning with only the one run allowed.

The Mets wasted no time retaliating as Brandon Nimmo sent a home run to right field on the second pitch he saw to even things back up at one run apiece. But, that was all they would get as the Mets went down quietly the rest of the inning.

After a scoreless second inning in which Jason Vargas struck out the side, the Braves struck again in the top of the third. Just like the first inning, Acuna started the rally, this time with a single left. After a steal, Acuna advanced to third base on Ozzie Albies’ fly out. Notorious Met killer Freddie Freeman singled to center to bring Acuna home and put Atlanta on top 2-1. After a steal by Freddie Freeman and a walk by Adam Duvall, Johan Camargo doubled to bring both runners around and give the Braves the lead that they never surrendered.

Those were the last runs that Vargas allowed on the night. Overall, he pitched five innings while giving up four runs on six hits. Vargas continued his mind-boggling streak of not going beyond the fifth inning in any of his last 12 starts with the Mets.

For this game, the scoring was on hold until the bottom half of the fifth inning when the Mets brought a their second run of the game home off of Mike Foltynewicz. Elite relief pitcher Jose Reyes doubled and Luis Guillorme followed up with a single to bring him home and bring the Mets within two.

One late-game highlight for the Mets was the debut of the recently-acquired Bobby Wahl. Entering with one out in the eighth inning, Wahl peppered high-90s fastballs in the zone, getting Adam Duvall to strike out and Johan Camargo to go down swinging on his slider.

The Mets got the leadoff man on base in the eighth and ninth innings thanks to an Austin Jackson single and Wilmer Flores’ walk, but they were unable to capitalize and went down quietly in both innings.

The Mets and Braves are back at it again tomorrow night at 7:10 when the 2013 American League leader in ERA, Anibal Sanchez, takes on 2018’s ERA leader, Jacob deGrom.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue
Talking Chop

Box scores

ESPN
MLB

Win Probability Added

Fangraphs

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Wilmer Flores +10.4% WPA
Big losers: Jason Vargas -24.1% WPA, Todd Frazier -17.6% WPA, Jeff McNeil -14.0% WPA, Jose Bautista -12.8% WPA, Kevin Plawecki -11.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo’s first inning home run, +10.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Johan Camargo’s two-run double, -18.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -13.4% WPA
Total batter WPA: -36.6% WPA
GWRBI!: Johan Camargo