Braves drop Mets on pinch-hit homer
ATLANTA » Charlie Culberson’s pinch-hit, two-run homer off Seth Lugo in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 victory over the Mets in the first game of a doubleheader on Monday.
Lugo (1-1) gave up Nick Markakis’ sacrifice fly in the eighth and walked Johan Camargo to begin the ninth before Culberson took him deep.
Devin Mesoraco gave the Mets a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth with a solo homer off Shane Carle (3-1), but Lugo’s performance wiped out seven strong innings from Jacob deGrom as the Mets lost their fourth straight.
Atlanta improved to 3121, second-best in the NL, and has won 44 games in its last at-bat since manager Brian Snitker took charge on May 16, 2016, most in the majors over that span.
Rain caused a 34-minute delay in middle of the sixth inning.
DeGrom pitched six scoreless innings before allowing Tyler Flowers’ homer to make it 2-1 in the seventh. He allowed five hits and three walks and struck out eight, lowering his NL-leading ERA to 1.52.
DeGrom has given up just two runs over his past 40 1/3 innings, a span of seven starts in which he has a 0.45 ERA. He pitched out of a jam after Flowers homered. The Braves had runners on first and third with no outs, but didn’t score.
Mesoraco had a role in all three New York runs. He drew a bases-loaded walk off Max Fried to make it 1-0 in the first and singled and scored from first on Luis Guillorme’s double to put the Mets up 2-0 in the fourth.
Fried, making his first start this season and the second of his career, gave up four hits, four walks and two runs — one earned — with six strikeouts in five innings.
DeGrom worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, striking out Preston Tucker and Camargo. WEATHER ALERT Rain first affected the game with two delays in the bottom of the third. The grounds crew jogged onto the field when rain briefly fell hard, but the Mets stayed on the field, and umpire crew chief Hunter Wendelstedt ordered play to continue. After the rain stopped and deGrom got the first out, he motioned to Wendelstedt that the front of the mound was mushy. The grounds crew brought in fresh dirt, packing down and raking the surface, and deGrom finished the inning. GAFFES ON THE BASES The Mets made two base running mistakes in the fifth when Fried and first baseman Freddie Freeman picked off Michael Conforto and Jose Bautista was picked off in a rundown from first.