Braves beat Mets, but no-hitter bid is lost late in game
NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried and two relievers held the New York Mets hitless through 8 2/3 innings Saturday before J.D. Martinez homered to spoil the bid, but the visitors held on to win 4-1 a clinch series win in the three-game set between National League East Division rivals.
“It’s something pretty special and something for a pitching staff to be proud of, especially when it’s combined,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I was hoping for the guys that they could pull it off. It’s hard.”
Fried opened with seven hitless innings, and Joe Jiménez worked around a pair of walks in the eighth before Raisel Iglesias retired the first two batters of the ninth. Martinez homered just over the wall in right field on the next pitch off Iglesias.
“Giving it up with a homer is better than an infield single,” Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud said with a grin.
Center fielder Michael Harris II, who earlier preserved the gem by drifting back and catching a long fly by Martinez at the wall in the seventh, said he was hopeful the ball might stay in the air long enough for right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. to make the catch.
“That right-center gap, there is a little opening where it had a chance to maybe stay in or Ronnie could have went up and brought it back or something like that,” Harris said. “But he hit it pretty good. Oh man, yeah, he did it. He did his thing.”
D’Arnaud said Jiménez told him he didn’t know the Braves were working on a no-hitter. Nor did Iglesias.
“I came back in the clubhouse, and they asked me if I knew it was happening,” Iglesias said via an interpreter. “And the reality is, I didn’t.”
Iglesias walked Jeff McNeil and allowed an infield single to Harrison Bader before retiring Brett Baty on a fly to center.
The hits by Martinez and Bader allowed the Mets to avoid being held hitless for the eighth time in franchise history.
“We didn’t want to get nohit,” Martinez said. “But in that situation, that moment, I don’t know — I’m just thinking about my plan and my game and what I’m trying to do in that at-bat and off Iglesias really. You can’t get caught up in all that.”
The Braves have not thrown a no-hitter since Kent Mercker’s gem against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1994. The no-hitter drought is the fourth-longest in the majors.
“It was almost Max Fried and Joe Jimenez and my guy Iggy,” Harris said.
The combined effort Saturday marked the fourth time since 2015 the Braves have lost a no-hitter in the ninth.
“It’s a really hard task and hard feat,” Fried said. “I thought it was a really great all-around team effort. Defense was obviously stellar.”
The Braves have the secondmost wins and second-lowest ERA in baseball since 1994, a span in which National Baseball Hall of Famers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz pitched for the team.
“With all the Hall of Famers running through and guys with electric stuff — they aren’t easy,” said Snitker, who said he has never witnessed a no-hitter.
Fried — who was born Jan. 18, 1994, 80 days before Mercker’s no-hitter — walked three batters and struck out five while throwing 109 pitches, one shy of his career high. He retired the first eight batters he faced before issuing consecutive walks to Tomas Nido and Brandon Nimmo. He then set down 11 straight before walking Pete Alonso with one out in the seventh, after which Martinez flew out to Harris.
“Frankly, I was not very good with my command at all,” Fried said. “I was just trying to keep us in the game as long as I possibly could.”
Orlando Arcia hit a two-run homer and Harris had three hits, including an RBI single for Atlanta.
Rookie right-hander Christian Scott (0-1), making his first home start for the Mets, gave up three runs and struck out eight in six-plus solid innings.
The series concludes Sunday night with right-handers taking the mound as Bryce Elder (1-1, 5.28 ERA) gets the ball for Atlanta and the Mets counter with Luis Severino (2-2, 2.93).