Atlanta Braves Series Recap: Braves vs. Mets (9/2 – 9/4)

Sep 4, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) celebrates a solo home run in the eighth inning against the New York Mets at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The Braves won yet another series at home this week, taking two out of three from the New York Mets. The Braves won the first two games of the series before punting the third game by starting Kameron Loe, with predictably poor results.

The Braves dominated the first game of the series, crushing the Mets by a score of 13-5 on Labor Day. The Mets are inexplicably giving Daisuke Matsuzaka the chance to make their games less successful and more boring, as Dice-K took an hour to pitch three innings and give up six runs to the Braves. Freddie Freeman delivered the big blows with a double and a home run off of Dice-K, putting the game away early. The score was 6-1 when Dice-K was mercifully removed, and the rout continued from there with the Braves eventually winning by the 8-run margin. Paul Maholm started for Atlanta and while he was not especially good, he was far better than Dice-K, as he pitched five innings and allowed three runs.

On Tuesday, the Braves sent Kris Medlen out to face Carlos Torres and both starters were extremely effective. Medlen had one of his stronger starts of the season, giving up only one run in seven innings while striking out nine batters. Torres was dominant through six innings and entered the seventh seemingly on cruise control. In the seventh, however, the Braves finally broke through as an Evan Gattis homer tied the game and an Andrelton Simmons two-run blast put the Braves in front for good. Gattis had three hits including the homer in his first game back in Atlanta after a three game stint in Gwinnett. It was Gattis’s first homer since July 24th and like many of his homers this year, it was an important hit in the late innings. BJ Upton continued his good work and moved his batting average above the .200 mark for the first time all year.

With the series victory assured and the Braves playing a noon game following a night game, the team sent out the ultimate “give-up” lineup by starting Kameron Loe on Wednesday. By starting Loe, the Braves were able to give Julio Teheran a start off in an effort to limit Teheran’s innings in his first full season in the big leagues. While this was a good move with an eye on the playoffs that the Braves have all but assured themselves of being in, the results for this game were predictably poor. Loe was shelled, giving up five runs off 11 hits in 4.1 innings of work. Dillon Gee continued his strong work by only allowing one run in seven innings and the Mets easily took game three of the series.

The Braves move on to face the Philadelphia Phillies with their magic number to clinch the NL East at 10 games. Stay tuned for the series preview on Friday.