Atlanta Braves: Fall to Mets in Season Opener

The Atlanta Braves had a rough start to the season on Monday afternoon falling 6-0 to the Mets in New York.

Monday’s season opener didn’t go as planned for Atlanta the Braves matched Noah Syndergaard for six innings before going to a bullpen that seemed unable to get an out. They allowed a combined five walks and gave up six runs on their way to losing the first game of the season.

For six innings Julio Teheran was brilliant keeping the Mets scoreless and piling up strike outs along the way. Freddie Freeman piled up three hits as well two against Syndergaard and was standing at third base twice with the chance to score only to have Matt Kemp fail to advance him both times.

While it is easy to focus on the bullpen’s failure and losing the game Matt Kemp deserves an equal amount of blame in the seasons first loss.  Kemp was unable to put the ball in play either chance he had and bring Freeman in to score. If he even can bring in Freeman one out of the two chances he had it changes the bullpen order and the complexion of the game.

Kemp is a solid cleanup hitter who is going to help Atlanta win a lot of games this year but in fairness this loss is hung around Kemp’s neck and his inability to put a ball in play. The bullpen deserves blame as well for one of the ugliest innings we will watch this season but there is little doubt that it would have been managed differently if Kemp could have come through earlier in the game.

It is never fun to lose on opening day but it is to early to judge the team based on one game. The Braves have an off day today before taking on the same Mets team Wednesday night in New York.