When the Braves rack up five runs and 13 hits and have veteran starter Brandon McCarthy on the mound, it’s a game they expect to win.
They lost such a game in the nightcap of a Monday doubleheader with the Mets, who outscored the Braves 5-1 after the third inning of an 8-5 win that ended at 1:24 a.m. and gave New York a split of the twinbill at SunTrust Park.
Kurt Suzuki hit his seventh home run and Freddie Freeman had his second two-hit game of the day, but McCarthy gave up two runs in the first inning and couldn’t protect a lead after the Braves countered by knocking Mets starter P.J. Conlon out of the game in the third inning.
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The start of the game was delayed three hours by rain and McCarthy gave up three hits to the first four batters in the opening inning, then threw wildly to second base on a comebacker to the mound before inducing an inning-ending double-play grounder.
He was charged with nine hits and five runs in 5 1/3 innings, the last two of those runs coming across after McCarthy was replaced by reliever Peter Moylan with bases loaded in the sixth inning.
It was the third time in his past five starts that McCarthy was charged with at least five earned runs, a period that included consecutive dreadful outings followed by two strong ones before Monday’s performance that was somewhere between extremes. He conceded it was a challenge to prepare for the start of the game as the rain delay before the first pitch dragged on and on.
Freeman’s two-run single in the third inning – on a change-up below the knees – tied the score and Suzuki’s sacrifice fly two batters later gave the Braves a 4-3 lead. Freeman, who had two hits in the first game Monday to move past Javy Lopez into fifth on the Atlanta-era Braves career hits list and extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
The Mets moved back in front in the sixth inning when Moylan replaced McCarthy with one out and served up a bases-loaded, two-run single to the first batter he faced, Amed Rosario. Opponents have hit .319 (22-for-69) against the veteran sidearmer.
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The Braves answered in the bottom of the inning but managed only one run to tie after loading the bases with one out.
Ryan Flaherty had a leadoff pinch-hit single and Ender Inciarte doubled before Ozzie Albies struck out. The Mets intentionally walked Freeman to load the bases for Nick Markakis, who topped a grounder that bounced off the dirt in front of the plate and rolled toward the shortstop for an infield hit that brought in the tying run.
With bases still loaded and one out, Suzuki grounded into a force at home plate and Charlie Culberson flied out to end the inning.
Those potential runs left on base came back to haunt the Braves when their bullpen faltered again in a three-run seventh inning. All the runs were charged to A.J. Minter, who gave up four hits including a two-run single by Luis Guillorme before being replaced by Lucas Sims.
Rosario greeted Sims with an RBI single to push the lead to 8-5.
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