TAKEAWAYS: Atlanta Rallies Late But Drops Series Opener to New York Mets

The Atlanta Braves had an uncharacteristically shaky outing from the bullpen and couldn't get that one final hit late

/ Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves rallied late but couldn’t quite score enough to overcome New York’s late offense and dropped game one of the series 8-7 inside a sold out Truist Park on Monday night. 

Here’s what you need to know about from the contest:

Charlie Morton gave you exactly what you thought you’d get

Needing reliable starting pitching, Charlie Morton made his second start of 2024 and was...fine? Morton went 5.1 innings with four runs on five hits, walking five and striking out four. It’s more of what we saw last season from Morton - higher walk totals than you’d love, but he did well enough to keep Atlanta in the game. He got eleven whiffs, seven on the curveball, which he used 44% of the time. 

Morton got got by Brandon Nimmo for a 5th inning solo shot (Nimmo had two in the game, the second off of A.J. Minter), and gave up four hard-hit balls total - overall not an amazing statline, coming in one run and one out shy of a quality start, but good enough to keep Atlanta in the ball game. 

Marcell Ozuna is playing like every game is in Miami

Marcell Ozuna was 2-24 on April 8th of 2023, en route to bottoming out at a .081 batting average just days before Atlanta went to his adopted home of Miami for a three game series against the Marlins. 

Ozuna was days away from being DFA’d when Atlanta got to Miami, but left with more roster security after going 6-13 with three homers, including a grand slam, and six RBIs. He finished the 2023 season, somehow, with 40 homers (a career-high) and 100 RBIs. 

There’s no worries about Ozuna’s roster spot this season, as “The Big Bear” already has five homers and twelve RBIs just nine games into the season after taking Mets starter Julio Teheran deep in the 3rd inning to stake Atlanta to a four run lead. 

Big Bear for two!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/BpCmOnQOys

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 9, 2024

Other notable offensive performers were Atlanta’s middle infield - shortstop Orlando Arcia went 3-5 with a run scored and Ozzie Albies went 2-4 with a run and three RBIs.

Of note is Matt Olson's ninth-inning double, his only hit of the game, which extended his streak of hitting successfully at home to twenty games, the longest active streak in the majors.

The bullpen’s scoreless streak finally ended

Atlanta was riding a long scoreless streak from the bullpen, one even more impressive when you consider that the pen had to cover short outings from Spencer Strider and Max Fried over the weekend. The streak, which got up to 14.2 innings, was the longest active scoreless streak from any bullpen in MLB and was finally broken by Brandon Nimmo’s seventh inning homer off of A.J. Minter. 

(Minter faced 93 lefties last season and allowed only two homers, holding left-handed hitters to only seven extra-base hits in those 93 plate appearances. Something about this pitching staff's pending free agent lefties having out-of-character outings, huh?)

New York added yet another homer off the Braves bullpen in the 8th, with DJ Stewart getting his first hit of 2024 via homer to dead center off of Pierce Johnson to stake New York to a 7-5 lead late. 

As we all expected, Jesse Chavez was the hero for the bullpen, coming in and shutting down New York’s rally in the 8th, but by that point, they had batted around and put up three total runs to take a three run lead. 

Did Atlanta have another late-innings comeback in them?

No. The Braves had late-game comebacks on both Friday and Saturday to set themselves up for the sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, but it was not to be on Monday night against New York. Atlanta, starting with Michael Harris II (who walked to open the inning), loaded the bases in the 8th but couldn’t bring enough of them home to complete the comeback in this one.  

The whole game was a story of missed opportunities, with Atlanta going 3-15 with runners in scoring position and stranding ten runners on base in this one, including four across the final two innings.

What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?

Atlanta’s back in action on Tuesday evening, looking to even the series against New York. The pitching matchup is Reynaldo López vs Adrian Houser, with first pitch once again scheduled for 7:20 PM ET.