Braves fall this round, but race is on vs. Mets

ATLANTA -- Given how last season transpired, the Braves certainly aren’t going to fret about any first-half developments. But as the defending World Series champions approach the All-Star break in pretty good shape, they have again been reminded they have plenty to prove.

Charlie Morton surrendered three home runs and received little offensive support as the Braves suffered a 7-3 loss to the Mets on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park. Atlanta dropped two of three in this series, which enhanced the likelihood New York will enter the season’s second half atop the National League East standings.

The Braves (53-37) have lost just 10 of their past 40 games. But by dropping this three-game set, they fell 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Mets (55-34). These two teams will next meet during a five-game series that will be played Aug. 4-7 at Citi Field.

“We're going to play them a lot more,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “They're going to get guys back. They were without two of their regulars, and there's a starting pitcher [Jacob deGrom] looming. That's a good club.”

Here are three takeaways from this series:

Frontline guys
Max Fried issued a career-high-tying five walks, Spencer Strider lasted less than five innings and Morton allowed three homers for just the third time in his 309 career starts. Other than that, the Braves’ rotation fared fine against the Mets.

Eduardo Escobar hit a solo homer off Morton in the second and Francisco Lindor tallied a three-run homer the next inning. Mark Canha then added one more solo shot against the veteran starter, who saw the Mets produce an exit velocity greater than 100 mph with seven of the 15 balls put in play against him.

This was a rough day all around for Morton, who entered the game having posted a 1.60 ERA over his past five starts. But this wasn’t the veteran reverting back to where he was when he posted a 5.67 ERA through his first 12 starts. It had more to do with a disciplined and talented Mets lineup that frustrated Fried with its patience and got to Strider with an ability to extend plate appearances with foul balls.

“They're more difficult to pitch to, because they're kind of scrappy,” Morton said. “They're not just giving at-bats away and just trying to hit all homers. They're definitely more selective and a little more picky.”

Power Play
As the Mets scored five runs via home runs during the series finale, they played a game very familiar to the Braves, who have hit a National League-leading 139 homers.

Each of the eight runs the Braves tallied in this three-game series came courtesy of a home run. The long ball was enough on Tuesday, when Matt Olson and Adam Duvall both hit two-run homers after the fifth inning. But Mets starters Max Scherzer, David Peterson and Chris Bassitt prevented the Braves from producing any big innings.

Atlanta scored more than one run in just two of 27 innings during this series.

“They had three really good starts and we didn’t handle it,” Snitker said.

Still, the Braves have plenty of power within their lineup to create necessary damage in some matchups against the game’s top pitchers. Olson, Austin Riley and Eddie Rosario each hit a solo homer in the series finale.

Riley’s eighth-inning shot allowed him to join Hank Aaron (three times), Eddie Mathews (twice), Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Dale Murphy, Andres Galarraga and Darrell Evans as the only Braves to hit 25 homers or more before the All-Star break.

Squandered Chance
With Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil, James McCann and deGrom out of action for the Mets, the Braves had a prime opportunity this week against an injury-depleted squad.

When the Braves travel to Citi Field in three weeks, Marte, McNeil and deGrom should be active, adding intrigue to what has the makings to be baseball’s best division race this year.

“So much changes between injuries, someone getting hot or someone getting cold,” Bassitt said. “It's really cool to project, saying, 'Yeah, we can come in here and win.' But the biggest series will be the end of the year. There are so many factors that can change by then. It's just a good win now, and that's basically it."