Sale shuts down Mets as Braves take series

Many of those same fans booed when Atlanta manager Brian Snitker brought the hook with him to the mound after Nimmo’s single. Raisel Iglesias got a grounder to second to end the game.

“Tough position for (Snitker) to be in. I get that. Pitch count was up over 100,” Sale said. “But I was pretty adamant coming off the eighth inning and he was like, ‘You usually don’t do that, so I had to give it to you.’ But at the same time he didn’t want to get me up over too many pitches tonight. I told him, ‘Hey, you gave me a chance for it,’ and that’s all I really wanted. I appreciated that.”

In his last six starts, the 36-year-old Sale is 4-1 over 41 2/3 innings, having allowed four earned runs while striking out 50.

“With my teammates, with my coaches, they were on it hard,” Sale said. “This was something where I was scuffling a little bit and (my teammates) really went to work for me and helped me out with some of the things I needed to get back on top of and to get me successful. I wish I could sit here and say it was me figuring it out and looking in the mirror and doing it myself, but there’s a lot of hands going into that.”

Atlanta (33-39) gave Sale three runs in the first inning, and he cruised from there as the Braves took the series. Winners of six of its last eight, Atlanta will go for the sweep of the first-place Mets at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.

The Mets (45-29) lost their fifth game in a row and were shut out for the fifth time this season but for the second time in three games.

Ronald Acuña Jr. jumped on Mets starter Paul Blackburn, taking the right-hander’s first pitch of the game and planting it over the center field wall. Acuña’s eighth homer of the season, and 36th career leadoff home run, left the bat at 106 miles per hour and traveled 419 feet.

Later in the inning, with runners at second and third and Marcell Ozuna at the plate, Mets catcher Luis Torrens chased a wild pitch that had bounced up the first base line and tried to stop the ball with his catcher’s mask — a play officially ruled as an error on Torrens. That allowed Alex Verdugo to score.

Ozuna completed the three-run first with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Austin Riley.

That was all Atlanta needed as Sale settled in, allowing a walk in the second and singles in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth. New York didn’t baserunner reach second after the first inning.

“He was executing all of his pitches. Even broke out the sinker and the changeup a little bit,” catcher Drake Baldwin said. “It’s always fun to catch him. You know he’s gonna go out there and give it his all. With a little bit more days rest, he relied on me a little bit more throughout the game as well. He was fun, he was executing. It’s fun to sequence to pitches – when he’s doing that, and especially with the stuff he has.

“You just kind of know what pitches are working. But one thing that kind of makes him so special is he’s able to find his pitches throughout the outing. If his fastball location’s not there, he finds it. He’s able to make the adjustment throughout the game so you can always rely on his fastball and slider whenever you need it.”

Ozzie Albies cushioned the Braves’ lead in the fourth when scoring on a wild pitch from Mets reliever Jose Butto.

Matt Olson punctuated the victory with his 15th home run of the season, a no-doubter to right on a 3-2 pitch from Ty Adcock with two outs in the seventh.

Olson also had a front-row seat at first base for Sale’s defensive gem to start the ninth.

“He’s incredible,” Olson said of Sale. “He competes his (butt) off every time he’s on the mound.”

Blackburn (0-1) was lifted after 3 2/3 and 73 pitches. He gave up four runs (three earned) in his second start of the season.