Reynaldo López Makes His Truist Park Debut Against the Mets on Tuesday Evening

The Atlanta Braves are sending their newest starting pitcher to the Truist Park mound for the first time

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Reynaldo López makes his Truist Park debut on Tuesday night against the New York Mets / Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves are looking to even up this series.

Atlanta’s offense wasn’t able to get the big hit needed to complete yet another rally, this time against the division rival New York Mets, dropping Monday night’s series opener 8-7 in Truist Park. 

Atlanta’s now 2-3 in one-run games this season - it’s an area where a significant overperformance can fuel meaningful improvements to the win-loss record (hello 2023 Miami Marlins, who went 33-14 in one-run games), but the Braves have historically been good in these scenarios, as we saw over the weekend against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and I’m not worried about it from a long-term perspective. You literally can’t win all of them. 

Lineups for the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets on Tuesday, April 9th

Here's how Atlanta will line up for the contest:

RF Ronald Acuña Jr
2B Ozzie Albies
3B Austin Riley
1B Matt Olson
DH Marcell Ozuna
CF Michael Harris II
SS Orlando Arcia
C Travis d’Arnaud
LF Jarred Kelenic

Reynaldo López is making his second start of the season for Atlanta, and he’s arguably been the most impressive starter of the season from a results standpoint - his debut was six innings of four hit, one run ball against the Chicago White Sox last weekend. The only significant track record between López and the Mets come from Francisco Lindor (18 ABs, .111 BA with one HR and two RBIs) and Starling Marte (8 ABs, three hits). 

Here's New York’s lineup today:

LF Brandon Nimmo
RF Starling Marte
SS Francisco Lindor
1B Pete Alonso
3B Brett Baty
DH DJ Stewart
2B Jeff McNeil
CF Harrison Bader
C Omar Narváez

Starting for the Mets is offseason trade acquisition Adrian Houser, making his second start of the season. Last time out against the Detroit Tigers, he got a no-decision after five innings of three-hit, one run ball with three walks and three strikeouts. 

Atlanta’s got a decent track record against Houser from his Milwaukee Brewers days, and the studs have absolutely raked against him - Ronald Acuña Jr. has batted .583 against Houser across 12 at-bats with a 1.282 OPS, while Austin Riley is batting .429 with a 1.072 OPS, one homer, and six RBIs in 14 at-bats.  

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets on Tuesday, April 9th. 

Today's game two is scheduled for a 7:20 PM ET first pitch with a full suite of broadcast options. In-market, the Braves broadcast is on Bally Sports South and the Mets feed is on SNY, with out-of-market fans being able to watch on MLB.tv. For audio, the New York broadcast is available on WCBS 880 & WINS 92.3 FM HD2, while the Atlanta Braves Radio Network has the standard broadcast on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan and affiliates across Braves Country.