Braves' six homers power Winans' first MLB win 

NEW YORK -- Allan Winans certainly had reason to be motivated as he faced the organization that just two years ago determined he wasn’t worthy of any of the 38 spots on its Triple-A roster.

Winans ended up with the Braves via the Rule 5 Draft and had a chance to exact some revenge as he guided Atlanta toward an 21-3 win over the Mets in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. The 27-year-old earned his first Major League victory, five years after New York took him in the 17th round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

“Getting drafted by those guys, they definitely made me dream of Citi Field,” Winans said. “So getting to come here and do it against those guys made it a little more special. But my job today was to help the Braves win and that is what we did.”

As Winans reintroduced himself to the Major League scene, Matt Olson assumed the Major League lead in homers, hitting his 41st and 42nd of the season as part of a six-homer game for the Braves. Atlanta’s first baseman is just nine home runs shy of matching the single-season franchise record Andruw Jones set in 2005.

Winans was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett to serve as the Braves’ 27th man during the twin bill. This was just his second career start, but he looked like a seasoned veteran as he scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings.

“The way the last week has gone for us, that was huge for us,” manager Brian Snitker said.

The Braves exited Thursday’s loss to the Pirates with MLB’s second-worst starting pitching ERA since the All-Star break. They also entered Friday with just two of their past six starters lasting at least five innings.

But Charlie Morton pitched around seven walks to toss five scoreless in a 7-0 series-opening win against the Mets and Winans extended Atlanta’s starting pitching scoreless streak to 12 innings.

The Braves have now won 13 of their past 15 games against the Mets going back to last August. Along the way, they also got the better of their National League East rivals with the Winans acquisition.

Once the Mets left Winans unprotected on their Triple-A roster, the Braves took the young right-hander in the third round of the Minor League Rule 5 Draft.

“It was a little surprising [to be left unprotected],” Winans said. “I felt like I had a pretty good year and I have the utmost confidence in myself. But they chose to go a different direction and the Braves chose to go my direction.

"So, I’m pretty thankful to be with them.”

The $24,500 the Braves had to pay the Mets to get Winans seemed like a bargain as Saturday’s game progressed.

Winans issued two walks, including one of the intentional variety, and hit a batter to load the bases with two outs in the first. But he escaped that threat, pitched around a pair of singles in the fourth and stranded a seventh-inning leadoff double.

Five of the nine players in the Mets' lineup entered this game with an OPS below .600. But this was still an impressive outing for Winans, who allowed two runs over 4 1/3 innings when he made his first MLB appearance against Milwaukee last month.

Winans posted a 1.72 ERA over 26 appearances while being used exclusively as a reliever at the High-A and Double-A levels for the Mets in 2021. He performed well at the Double-A level for Atlanta in ’22, and he has posted a 2.79 ERA in 20 appearances (15 starts) for Gwinnett this season.

“I didn’t know [he had been with the Mets] until during the game,” Olson said. “I’m sure there were some emotions. It felt good to have a good start against them, too.

“Maybe there was a little extra for him. I don’t know. But it was a great outing.”