Baty goes deep as Mets beat Braves

The Mets beat the Braves in Atlanta tonight, as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never gave up the lead, though they did let the Braves get close twice. In the end, it was a 9-7 win.

Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning to get the Mets going, and in the second inning, Brett Baty hit a two-run home run in his first major league at-bat to give the Mets a four-run lead.

Max Scherzer was excellent until he wasn’t, holding the Braves to just a sacrifice fly in the third inning—following a rain delay that lasted about half an hour—and giving the Mets the chance to extend their lead. Mark Canha helped that cause with a run-scoring double in the sixth, and Starling Marte hit another solo home run in the seventh.

Scherzer ran out of gas in the bottom of the seventh, it seemed, as he lost the strike zone, prompting Buck Showalter to turn to Adam Ottavino. Unfortunately, between the inherited baserunners and the ones he faced himself, Ottavino allowed the Braves to bring home four runs, pulling them within a run of the Mets.

After Edwin Díaz pitched a brilliant bottom of the eighth to keep the Mets’ lead intact, Pete Alonso singled in two runs in the top of the ninth, stole second base, and scored on a Daniel Vogelbach double.

That insurance proved important for the Mets, as Showalter opted to keep Díaz’s outing to one inning and brought in Trevor May, who surrendered two runs before getting Ronald Acuña Jr. to fly out to deep right-center field to end the game.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Max Scherzer, +15.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: Adam Ottavino, -15.3% WPA
Mets pitchers: +16.0% WPA
Mets hitters: +34.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marte hits a solo home run in the first, +9.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Robbie Grossman hits a three-run home run in the seventh, -20.1% WPA