The New York Mets opened a five-game series with the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night at Citi Field and picked up a 6-4 victory. New York now leads Atlanta by 4 1/2 games in the National League East.
Carlos Carrasco started for the Mets and surrendered three runs on four hits over six innings while walking one and striking out six. The right-hander improved to 12-4 on the season.
New York jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Pete Alonso’s RBI single.
In the bottom of the second, Tyler Naquin launched his first home run as a Met over the wall in right-center to make it 2-0.
The Mets plated a couple more runs in the bottom of the third. Pete Alonso smacked a two-run homer into the left-field seats. Daniel Vogelbach followed that with a solo shot over the right-field wall to extend the lead to 5-0.
Atlanta put a few runs on the board in the top of the fifth to cut New York’s lead to 5-3. Michael Harris started it by grounding one through the right side for a run-scoring single. Then, Ronald Acuna Jr. crushed a two-run home run over the center-field wall.
In the bottom of the sixth, Naquin belted his second homer of the game just over the left-field railing to make it 6-3. That was his ninth long ball of the season.
The Braves made it a two-run game in the top of the seventh as Harris grounded one through the middle for an RBI single.
Atlanta had a chance to tie it in the top of the ninth against New York’s closer Edwin Díaz, but Orlando Arcia grounded out with a runner on second to end the game. Díaz struck out three over two shutout innings and recorded the six-out save.
Taijuan Walker will get the ball on Friday as the Mets go for their third straight win. The first pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].