Tyler Mahle and Lane Thomas, two of the newest Braves, played a pivotal part in a 6-3 victory over the Mets on Wednesday at Truist Park.
Mahle went six innings and allowed a single run in his second start with the Braves. Acquired from the Giants before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Mahle struck out seven and only gave up four hits.
“It’s just about making pitches,” Mahle said. “I was kind of sporadic the first inning, and (A.J.) Ewing put together a good at-bat. He was fouling some balls off (before hitting a single). So it was just about making pitches.
“And then … the defense made some great plays, like they do, to keep some of those innings a lot shorter than they probably would have (been).”
In his two starts since joining the Braves, Mahle has struck out 16 hitters, walked just two and has an ERA of 0.75
Mahle (4-9) hadn’t allowed a run in his first 11 innings as a member of the Braves until Luis Torrens led off the sixth and hit a first-pitch fastball 375 feet to right center that bounced off the top of the wall for a solo home run.
That’s all the Mets (53-69) could muster.
“It’s been great. The two starts have been unbelievable,” Braves third baseman Austin Riley said of Mahle. “I felt like he’s attacked the zone. I faced him numerous times, and glad I’m not having to right now. It’s fun to play behind him.
“I feel like he gets the ball, works quick, and from an offensive standpoint, you get in the dugout, you can get kind of a rhythm going there.”
Thomas, meanwhile, gave the Braves an early lead they never relinquished. Acquired from the Royals before the trade deadline, Thomas banged a 1-0 cutter from Mets starter Zac Thornton (3-3) 412 feet out to left in the bottom of the second. It was Thomas’ 11th homer of the season, the first since July 26 and the first as a member of the Braves.
“(Thomas has) been doing that for a while — he handles left-handed pitching really well,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He was playing every day (with the Royals), he can hit righties, too. But he’s really a threat against lefties especially.”
Three more runs for the Braves (73-48) in the seventh virtually sealed the win and allowed the NL East’s first-place squad to go into Thursday’s off day with a 9.5-game lead in the division over the Phillies. The magic number is down to 32.
Wednesday’s win gave the Braves their 26th series victory of the season and 16th series triumph at home. They are now 12-5 in rubber games.
Already up 1-0 in the third inning, Ronald Acuña Jr. drew a walk to lead off the inning, then took third base on Drake Baldwin’s single to center. Acuña deked Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. by slowing up at second before turning on the jets as he rounded the bases.
That allowed Acuña to score on Matt Olson’s double-play ball.
Acuña, who threw out Jared Young trying to stretch a single into a double in the top of the fifth, gave the Braves a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single to left.
After Torrens’ homer in the sixth, Robert hit a long ball of his own in the seventh, this one coming off Braves lefty Dylan Dodd.
Credit: AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser
Credit: AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser
But Mike Yastrzemski, pinch-hitting for Thomas to start the bottom of the seventh, got that run right back by hitting his ninth home run of the season, one that eked over the right field wall. Riley, who finished a triple short of the cycle, made it back-to-back jacks by blasting a 438-foot shot to left.
Riley is now hitting .292 since the All-Star break. He hit .207 before it.
“It’s been good. A lot better, obviously, and been working really hard every day with (hitting coach) Tim (Hyers) and (assistant hitting coach) ‘DC’ (Darnell Coles) and just trying to simplify things,” Riley said. “This game will beat you up, and you can overcomplicate things really quick and things will spiral really, really fast.
“Just getting back to the basics. Obviously, there’s been some stuff to work on, but working really hard in the cage and seeing some results out there on the field has been nice for sure.”
The homers by Yastrzemski and Riley came off Mets reliever Dedniel Núñez, who was replaced by Jefry Yan. Yan allowed an RBI single by Baldwin that scored Acuña to put the Braves up 6-2.
Braves closer Raisel Iglesias gave up a home run to Bo Bichette in the ninth inning, then left two runners stranded to preserve the win.
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