The Braves come to Citi Field this weekend for 4 video games that can finish April after which open May within the National League East. One factor, although, hasn’t modified since final October: The Braves are nonetheless forward of the Mets.
It doesn’t imply they are going to be by Monday afternoon, when this sequence ends. Or that the Braves will probably be higher by this October. It’s solely two video games within the loss column separating the 2 groups as they head into Friday night time’s recreation. But for now, the Braves are nonetheless kings of the hill within the East.
The Mets nonetheless don’t have Justin Verlander, who isn’t scheduled to affix the season till subsequent week in Detroit. Max Scherzer received’t pitch this weekend, as he continues to serve out a suspension due to an excessive amount of sticky substance on his pitching hand in Los Angeles final week. So, the Mets are at the moment diminished. Still: This weekend sees the resumption of a rivalry nearly as good and actual as any in baseball proper now.
Both the Mets and Braves received 101 video games final season. The Mets had been 10 1/2 video games forward of the Braves. In the top, although, the Braves had been 10-9 in opposition to the Mets and received the three that mattered most, the final three in Atlanta. The Braves received the division and received themselves a first-round bye; the Mets misplaced to the Padres within the NL Wild Card Series and went house.
Now it begins up once more between them.
The Mets come into the sequence after their rousing 9-8 comeback win in opposition to the Nationals on Thursday night time. It seemed as if the 4 video games in a row they’d misplaced after their 7-3 West Coast journey may was about to grow to be 5. They’d been forward, 7-3, going into the eighth. Only the Nationals scored 5 within the high of the inning, the final of these on a CJ Abrams grand slam off Brooks Raley.
But the Mets got here again. They nonetheless do this. Pete Alonso tied the sport with an RBI double, and Jeff McNeil lastly put his group forward with a triple off the right-field wall earlier than David Robertson pitched a three-up, three-down ninth.
“May not have been sexy,” Buck Showalter stated later. “But it was our best and most needed win.”
On the identical night time, the Braves noticed the Marlins rally with 5 runs within the high of the ninth, gorgeous Atlanta with what grew to become a 5-4 victory. So, the Marlins completed off the comeback in Atlanta that the Nationals couldn’t fairly end off in New York.
Showalter was involved — coming house from final weekend’s sequence in opposition to the Giants in San Francisco and understanding the Braves had been coming to city this weekend — in regards to the Nationals being a entice sequence for his group. It is precisely what Mets vs. Nationals grew to become. But the Mets didn’t get swept on the very finish, and Thursday night time’s recreation grew to become very a lot an announcement recreation for them. They’d a lot quite make an announcement — even with a pitching employees nonetheless diminished by accidents — in opposition to the Braves, beginning Friday night time.
“This was the kind of baseball we’re capable of playing,” McNeil, who stayed scorching even by means of the Mets’ droop, stated of his group’s comeback. “Hopefully, it will give us some momentum going into the Braves.”
“There are a lot of winners on this team,” Joey Lucchesi, Thursday night time’s Mets starter, stated.
Lucchesi, making his second begin since getting back from Tommy John surgical procedure, pitched nicely sufficient to get a victory after throwing seven shutout innings in opposition to the Giants final week. The Mets had been forward, 4-1, when the sixth inning began. But the highest of the sixth ended with the Mets’ lead down to 1 run, after which the night time appeared to return crashing down after Abrams’ slam and it seemed as if the Mets would lose once more.
Francisco Lindor got here out of his droop with three RBIs, and Alonso got here out of his with two. Brandon Nimmo scored two extra runs and received two extra hits, elevating his common to .341. McNeil had what turned out to be the game-winner. And one of many Mets’ prized youngsters, third baseman Brett Baty, had his finest recreation of the season with three hits, together with a house run.
“Everybody stepped up tonight,” Baty stated.
The Mets stopped hitting after they received again to New York. That modified in a giant manner Thursday. Even Starling Marte, who has struggled, received successful — hit the ball laborious — and scored the tying run within the eighth, when Alonso knocked him house.
On the identical night time when the Braves didn’t sweep the Marlins, the Mets didn’t get swept by the Nationals. Preliminaries are over. We get the primary huge Mets-Braves sequence of the early season now. The Mets beat up on the Braves early final season. The Braves received them late, they usually ended up profitable the East for the fifth straight time.
So a lot has modified for the Mets currently. Steve Cohen is the proprietor, and Buck is the supervisor. Lindor got here to New York, so did Scherzer, now Verlander. But the story with the Braves nonetheless hasn’t modified. The ending is at all times the identical. The Mets look to start out altering that Friday night time. In so some ways, it feels as if the race within the East begins now.
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