Eighth inning does Mets in as Braves win, 2-1

Jacob deGrom did his best to make it a top-notch 27th birthday in Atlanta Friday night, but in the end it’s his party and he can certainly cry if he wants to as the Mets lost, 2-1, at Turner Field to the Braves.

It was the first of a three-game NL East set in the southern city; deGrom and the Mets held control until a messy eighth inning put the Braves up for good.

Game Recap:

Ruben Tejada added to his first-inning single with a double off the fence to lead off the sixth. Lucas Duda moved him over with a fly out batting in the three-hole and Michael Cuddyer hit him home with his second hit of the day.

An eighth inning lead-off double by Andrelton Simmons started the trouble. Eury Perez sac-bunted him over and Pedro Ciriaco took the plate to pinch-hit for starter Matt Wisler. He ended up reaching first by a step as Wilmer Flores took his time looking off the runner at third, leaving one out with runners on the corner and putting deGrom in the dugout to watch the rest of the inning.

Jace Peterson caught hold of a 3-1 count fastball off of Sean Gilmartin and put a double behind Juan Lagares in center to score Simmons and Ciriaco.

Terry Collins wore a path from the dugout to the mound after it, but the Mets held the damage at two runs.

Highlights:

• deGrom (7-5) only struck out three, but did strong work through his 7 1/3 innings. He allowed four hits with another poor night of defense behind him. It’s his first loss since May 11.
• Collins used three pitchers after pulling deGrom in the eighth inning. Gilmartin faced two batters, Bobby Parnell faced two and Jeurys Familia faced the last as the Mets failed to tie it up in the ninth.
• Wisler took the major league mound for the first time in his career, taking the place of rookie Mike Foltynewicz. The 22-year-old beat his manager to the ballpark for his debut and has been touted as the top pitching prospect in Atlanta’s farm system. He showed why Friday night, pitching eighth innings and allowing six hits with two strikeouts and not a single walk. “I can’t think of anything off the top of my head better than that (debut),” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said in his post-game presser.
• The six hits Wisler gave up were spread out. Tejada, batting second, garnered two. Cuddyer notched two in the four-spot. And Kevin Plawecki took two of his own batting eighth.

Thoughts:

Well this seems like the typical loss, now doesn’t it? We’re all sick and tired of hearing it, but here it is: The defense is a problem. They had a stroke of good fortune with Mets-destroyer Freddie Freeman out of the lineup yet couldn’t deliver on taking a bigger lead in the division standings.

A big focus on the Braves broadcast was that Wisler deserved the win. It’s true, but deGrom deserved it just as much with another strong outing that resulted in a loss. That’s a result of a lack of offense bullet pointed by only three batters notching hits and no one doing a solid job of stringing them together.

Another Friday night, another typical Mets story.

Up next:

Noah Syndergaard (2-4, 3.76 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets in the 7:10 p.m. game at Turner Field. It’s his second divisional outing of this career; The first was 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball against the Phillies with six strikeouts. Right-hander Williams Perez (3-0, 2.29 ERA) takes the mound for Atlanta.