Mets Complete Sweep of Braves

With his lat and baby now healthy, Jacob deGrom was back on the mound for the Mets on Sunday. He helped them to a sweep of the Braves and a 7-2 record on this road trip that saw the Mets bats explode.

As they have done so often on this trip, the Mets got on the board in the first. Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera led off the game with singles to put runners on first and third. With one out, Michael Conforto hit a ball into foul territory in left. Jace Peterson made a sensational diving catch, but Granderson was able to tag up for the first run of the game.

The Braves tied things up in the fifth on a Nick Markakis single.

The Mets broke the tie in the fifth with that same first-inning combination. Granderson walked and Cabrera singled, sending Granderson to third. Conforto laced a ball over the head of Markakis. It bounced over the wall for a ground rule double and a 2-1 Mets lead. That was all for Aaron Blair, making his major league debut. Alexi Ogando came in with runners on second and third with one out. Lucas Duda hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-1.

Terry Collins said he would limit deGrom to about 85 pitches in his second start of the season, and indeed, he was pulled from the game after 5.2 innings and 82 pitches. He allowed just one run on eight hits, with three strikeouts and no walks. Nice to have deGrom back.

The bullpen held the Braves scores until the ninth, when Jeurys Familia came on. With a runner on first and no outs, Erick Aybar hit a potential double play ball to short. But Cabrera did not even try to get the runner at second, getting the out at first for the first out. It was costly because with two outs, Jeff Francoeur singled to plate the run to make it a 3-2 game. An infield single put runners on first and second. Familia was able to get the third out on a grounder to second.

Mets win 3-2. They head home for a three-game series with the Reds.