It was a disappointing weekend for the Atlanta Braves as they lost four of five games in Queens at the hands of the New York Mets and fell 6.5 games off the NL East lead.
Now, why weren’t the Braves able to be successful in this series? There were a couple of aspects to this series that stood out to me like a sore thumb.
OFFENSE
Is it time to say that we miss Freddie Freeman? The main three hitters in the Braves order, Dansby Swanson, Matt Olson, and the new $200M man Austin Riley went a combined 12-61 (.197), scored eight runs, and dove in seven runs.
On the flip side, New York’s big three in the middle of the lineup, Starlin Marte, Francisco Lindor, and Pete Alonso combined to hit 20-56 (.357), they scored 14 runs and drove in 11. Lindor scored a run in every game this series, Alonso drove in a run in every game except for one, and only three times did one of these three guys not record a hit in the series.
With the middle of the lineup NOT producing for Atlanta that lead them to struggle a bit offensively.
PITCHING
When it comes to pitching the bullpens were about scratch, the Braves struggled a little bit more than the Mets but Edwin Diaz was incredible and we only saw Kenley Jansen once but I want to focus on the starters.
Here’s how each team’s starters fared this past weekend:
Braves
Wright: 6IP, 7H, 6ER, 2BB, 4K
Anderson: 4.2IP, 7H, 4ER, 4BB, 3K
Odorizzi: 4.2IP, 6H, 2ER, 3BB, 4K
Fried: 6IP, 6H, 2ER, BB, 5K
Strider: 2.2IP, 6H, 4ER, 2BB, 5K (79 pitches)
*Only 2 pitchers got past the 5th inning/allowed less than 3ER. All together: 12BB, 21K, 32H, and 18ER
Mets
Carrasco: 6IP, 4H, 3ER, BB, 6K
Walker: 1IP, 7H, 8ER
Peterson: 5.1IP, 3H, 0ER, 3BB, 5K
Scherzer: 7IP, 4H, 0ER, 11K
deGrom: 5.2, 1H, 2ER, BB, 12K
*Every SP except for Walker got into 5th, 3 SP allowed 2 or fewer ER, 5BB, 34K (deGrom/Scherzer had more than all Braves SP did combine), 19H, 13ER
There is quite a difference between these two rotations from this past weekend. The Mets are going to be exceedingly tough with Scherzer and deGrom healthy.
For more on this series check out our latest TikTok video by our very own host of The Word With G, Greg Larnerd
@espnchattanooga Braves-Mets weekend series fallout. Why the Mets were able to be so successful and where were the key areas that Braves struggled in…#greenscreen #mets #braves #atlanta #newyork #queens #citifield #chopon #baseball #lovebaseball #nleast #mlb