LET HIM DOWN
Porcello delivers, but Mets’ bats don’t in shutout loss to Braves
BRAVES 7
METS 0
Throughout the season, Rick Porcello maintained this year was different than his last. He felt better physically and his arsenal was back to where he wanted it. Porcello said the results wouldn't show it — the right-hander has a 5.46 ERA this season — but he had a better feel for his command and was trying not to be frustrated with the crooked outcomes.
For the first time this year, it all clicked for Porcello in the Mets' 7-0 loss to the Braves on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field. He recorded 10 strikeouts for the first time this year and sixth time in his career. The righty hurled seven innings of one-run ball, his longest start since Aug. 5 at Nationals Park, and allowed just three hits and two walks to the best lineup in the National League. His 100 pitches were tied for the most he's thrown across 11 starts this season.
“Today, on a personal note, it was a better turn,” Porcello said. “Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for us to win this game. We needed this one.”
The 2016 NL Cy Young award winner legitimately looked like one against Atlanta. He navigated a Braves offense that headlines the best hitter in the NL, if not all of baseball, in Freddie Freeman. Porcello fanned Freeman and got him to pop out in two out of three of their encounters on Sunday. His only blemish came in the sixth inning, when Ronald Acuna sent a solo home run out to right field.
Porcello carried a career-worst 5.52 ERA into Sunday's game, and lowered it to a season-best 5.46 on Sunday.
But the Mets (24-29) wasted Porcello's best start as a Met.
“It's tough, but this team is resilient,” Brandon Nimmo said. “I believe in this team and I believe in the fight. All we can do, and that's our only choice right now, is to win and keep trying to fight. We just gotta take this one day at a time and give it all we got. Leave it all on the field.”
The Mets were held to three hits all afternoon. Braves right-handed starter Kyle Wright, who entered the game with a 7.20 ERA, limited them to 6.1 scoreless innings over 98 pitches. Sunday marked just the fourth time in 11 career starts Wright completed more than five innings, but the Mets could do nothing against him. Wright struck out Michael Conforto all three times he faced him.
Nimmo, who went 0-for-3 against Wright, credited the 24-year-old's outing to the catcher, Travis d'Arnaud. The former Mets backstop, who was perplexingly released by the team last year after his contract was tendered, is batting .338 with a .968 OPS as Atlanta's cleanup hitter. Nimmo said not only does d'Arnaud have a competitive advantage because he knows Mets hitters, but he always does his homework and thus, called a great game for Wright.
“You wish he was on your team so you didn't have to play him,” Nimmo said of d'Arnaud. “He's a great player and a good catcher and just all-around good.”