Some baseball games are greater than the sum of their parts. When I saw the Cleveland Indians play the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, this was not the case. The city of Cleveland, still ecstatic over the Cavaliers’ NBA Finals victory, cheered loudly and often, but the game never seemed within reach of the Rays. Instead, the crowd got amped for Jason Kipnis’ inside-the-park-home-run-ruled-single-and-a-three-base-error and the wave managed to get four trips around the stadium before dying behind home plate, but the baseball itself was never close enough to warrant second-by-second interest by all attending. Thursday night at Turner Field, however, the sum was greater than a collection of oft-mundane parts that resulted in one of the tensest games the Mets have played all season. Unfortunately, as has been their recent trend against the Atlanta Braves, this resulted in a loss, falling to them for the fourth time in seven days.
For more than seven innings, the Mets were in the lead, though they failed to create a safe one. They had their chances starting in the beginning of the game when James Loney and Neil Walker walked back-to-back in the top of the first, stretching starting pitcher Matt Wisler to 24 pitches in the inning; he wouldn’t surrender a run in the inning which would come back to haunt the Mets. Matt Harvey’s turn in the first was strong, picking off Jace Peterson at second after allowing a single to him to keep his frame clean.
The second saw the Mets’ first run of the game, coming after Alejandro De Aza ended an 0-for-20 slide with an RBI double scoring Michael Conforto who reached base on a walk. Leading 1-0, the lead was immediately challenged in the bottom of the inning after Harvey allowed singles to Erick Aybar and Emilio Bonifacio that each barely were out of reach of Walker. Luckily the pitcher was up and Wisler was unable to create his own offense.
Regarding the oft-mundane parts of the game, the top of the third inning was the prime example. After Bonifacio dropped a catch against the scoreboard to allow Asdrubal Cabrera to better his 9-for-27 streak entering the game, Loney and Walker hit back-to-back sac flies to advance and then score Cabrera. Not the most glamorous way to score a run, but a run is a run is a run.
The fourth saw the first hints of the Braves not being out of the game just yet. Nick Markakis doubled, with A.J. Pierzynski singling to drive him home. Pierzynski has hit Harvey well in the past and continued to do so in this game. A scary moment for the already short-staffed Mets was whenC Conforto made a great catch running into the left field wall and came up limping, but stayed in the game.
In the fifth, Loney and Walker once again proved an effective duo by hitting back-to-back singles to score Curtis Granderson who reached base with a single of his own. Harvey had his best inning of the game in the bottom of the fifth, escaping after merely three batters and nine pitches. The sixth once again showed that the Braves’ formidable duo of the game was Markakis and Pierzynski, the former of whom singled and the latter of whom doubled to drive Markakis home. Pierzynski must have read his being named one of the worst position players of 2016 so far, as he responded with one of his best outings of the year. A six-inning, two-earned-run, three-strikeout outing by Harvey put him in line for the win, but the Braves remained hopeful of coming back.
Their hopes were heightened in the bottom of the seventh, when Sean Gilmartin allowed a walk to Bonifacio and a single to Jeff Francoeur that barely tipped Conforto’s glove. A Peterson sacrifice later, and the Braves had runners on second and third with only one out. The Mets needed a clutch performance, and Conforto, who hasn’t been there with his bat, provided: Ender Inciarte flied out to left and, Bonifacio tagging up, Conforto threw home to catch him by the most infinitesimal of margins. The Mets were out of the jam, but it was not to be.
Freddie Freeman could not be contained all night and singled to start the eighth, representing the leading run on first. Relieving Jerry Blevins, Addison Reed came up to face Adonis Garcia. Garcia promptly hit a two-run shot to give the Braves the lead, and they wouldn’t look back.
The Mets once again were unable to back up a promising start with enough offense to provide a win. Instead, it was a flurry of little plays that added up to their downfall. On a positive note, Travis d’Arnaud threw out Aybar at second in the eighth and framed pitches quite well in one of his first returns to the team. But defense wins championships only when the offense has given them a lead to protect.
Photo credit: Dale Zanine – USA Today Sports
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