The Braves and Mets met last night for game one of their five-game series. 2022 revelation Kyle Wright didn’t have his A+ stuff.
I don’t know if he had trouble with his grip, how the ball was coming out of his hand, or if he was just frustrated with himself for missing his spots; but he was visibly upset after just about every non-competitive pitch he threw to New York.
When Kyle wasn’t missing 2+ inches off the plate, he was serving up meatballs middle-middle. He got away with it in his first matchup with Mets newcomer Daniel Vogelbach. But that would be the last time.
He gave up four homeruns to a lineup that isn’t known for hitting the longball, or even hitting the ball hard in general.
In fact, they’re currently ranked in the bottom half of the league as a team in Isolated Power & Homeruns/Game.
Their first run coming via a basehit to score Starling Marte - who reached base on a 57 mph infield hit - is more their speed.
Although, the most impressive feat of the night was Tyler Naquin hitting an opposite field homerun on a curveball ankle-high with a trajectory that looked more like he was hitting a ProV1 instead of a baseball.
Edwin Díaz came on in the eighth to record his first career 6-out save, incase you didn’t hear Chip Caray tell you 50-million times last night.
The Braves had the tying run at the plate in the 9th with a 3-0 count to Orlando Arcia. But a check swing that kept ball four fair down the 1st base line ended the Braves’ threat & the game.
Some positives to carry with us:
Ronald hit a two-run homerun to dead center, his first HR in over 70 at-bats.
Michael Harris continues to shine, adding two RBI on two singles.
Edwin Díaz threw two innings last night.
Marcell Ozuna is being more patient at the plate.
The Mets scored 3 runs on mistakes, 1 run on an impressively slow infield hit, & another via the Citi Field long drive competition.
Our best relievers weren’t used in Game One.
Uphill Climb
There’s four more games in this series. While I’d like to tell you “their luck will run out sooner rather than later”, they’ve gotten to this point via luck…so *confused shrug*.
Like I said in yesterday’s piece, this series will come down to bullpens, in my opinion. If my prediction is realized, then the Braves are in much better shape than the Mets.
But nonetheless, how they accomplished something doesn’t matter at all compared to what they accomplished.
I can sit here and type to you about how they hit those homeruns or how softly Starling Marte hit that ball to reach base. But it doesn’t matter, the only thing that actually matters is what actually happens. You don’t get any extra runs for hitting the ball harder than the opponent. All that mattered last night in the season-wide scope is that the Mets found a way to score more runs than the Braves, to extend their division lead.
The Braves are in a hole, a familiar hole, but a hole all the same. They’re going to have to match the Mets’ energy going forward.
Give the Mets fans credit, they had Citi Field rocking like it was the NLDS (5-game series). If this was a postseason series, I’d be waking up this morning anxious as all get out about whether or not there would be a Game 4 or 5.