Braves lead NL East after sweeping Mets
NEW YORK — After a threegame sweep of the New York Mets, the Atlanta Braves were flying — and not just because they were heading home.
The first-place Braves — yes, Atlanta leads the National League’s East Division — just might be starting to convince a jaded fan base to believe again.
Julio Teheran took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and 20-yearold Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his second home run in the big leagues as an 11-0 rout Thursday completed a 7-3 trip that vaulted the young Braves atop the standings.
Players and manager Brian Snitker were looking ahead to a weekend series against the San Francisco Giants at Sun Trust Park, where just two of the first 12 home games this season sold out.
“I think they’re going to be pumped. I think they’ll be rocking tomorrow night,” Snitker said. “After the road trip we had, the style, the way these guys are playing — I mean, they’re leaving it out there every night.”
Acuna, Nick Markakis and Kurt Suzuki homered as the Braves built a 6-0 lead by the fifth inning against Jason Vargas (0-2), and 21-year-old Ozzie Albies went deep off an equally shaky Matt Harvey in a five-run seventh.
Atlanta has won five in a row to open a 1 1/2-game lead in the division. This is the latest in a season the Braves have been in first place since July 20, 2014.
“If the fan base wasn’t already excited, I don’t know what will (make them),” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, the only Atlanta player left from the group that walked off the field in first place against the Philadelphia Phillies that afternoon four years ago.
Atlanta is coming off three straight 90-loss seasons and four straight years with sub-.500 records. The rebuild has produced better results than expected this early in the season, and it has
been sparked by the two youngest position players in the major leagues.
Albies’ 10th homer tied for the NL lead. Acuna, playing just his eighth MLB game, hit a drive into the second deck in left field that would have gone 451 feet unimpeded, according to MLB Statcast. Atlanta is 7-1 since the arrival of Acuna, who is hitting .382.
“It’s that energy that these guys bring,” said Suzuki, a 34-year-old catcher with his fourth MLB franchise. “Seeing them come up here and do their thing, it’s pretty fun to be around.”
Atlanta outscored the Mets 21-2 in the series and outhit them 41-15, pitching consecutive shutouts for the first time since holding the St. Louis Cardinals scoreless in three games to end the 2015 regular season.
Teheran (2-1) was virtually untouchable until Asdrubal Cabrera doubled into the right-field corner on a 1-2 curveball with two outs in the seventh. Michael Conforto walked, and Adrian Gonzalez loaded the bases with an infield hit before Amed Rosario popped up.
Pitching on five days’ rest after cutting a start short at Philadelphia because of a tight trapezius muscle in the right side of his back, Teheran allowed two hits in seven innings, struck out six and walked two. He retired the first 11 batters he faced, walked Yoenis Cespedes on a 3-1 count in the fourth, then got nine more outs in a row before Cabrera’s hit.
Teheran’s velocity topped out at 92.3 mph, 4.8 mph higher than against the Phillies.
“I know that it was something bothering me. That’s why I was throwing that slow,” Teheran said.
He also had two hits and a sacrifice fly, and every Atlanta starter except Teheran scored a run. Markakis hit a go-ahead double and scored on Suzuki’s two-run homer as Atlanta increased its MLB-leading total of first-inning runs to 32. Acuna homered leading off the fifth, and Markakis hit a two-run shot.
Jesse Biddle and Max Fried finished the three-hitter for the Braves, who improved to 9-1 in day games this season by winning on a summer-like afternoon with a gametime temperature of 90 at Citi Field.
The Mets were shut out for consecutive games for the first time since the Chicago Cubs blanked them on June 30 and July 1, 2015. Before Cabrera’s double, 40 of the previous 42 batters had made out for New York, which has lost 11 of 17 after an 11-1 start.
“I’m sure there’s guys scrambling,” first-year Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “They’re still playing the game the right way.”
Harvey made his fourth relief appearance after losing his starting spot and gave up Albies’ three-run homer in a five-run seventh. Callaway said he thought Harvey looked stiff.
“There’s some positives out of today other than obviously the numbers,” Harvey said. “Still trying to figure out the workout schedules and the throwing programs and all that stuff to be ready.”