Fried, Harris lead Braves over deGrom, Mets to win series
Michael Harris II #23, Robbie Grossman #15, and Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves react after their 3-2 win over the New York Mets at Truist Park on August 18, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA - Max Fried outpitched Jacob deGrom, ever so slightly, in a matchup of aces and rookie Michael Harris II bounced a go-ahead double in the seventh inning that sent the Atlanta Braves over the New York Mets 3-2 on Thursday night.
Braves rookie Vaughn Grissom hustled all the way from first base to score on Harris’ grounder to shallow center field. In the ninth, Mets star Francisco Lindor was caught in no-man’s-land on the bases and thrown out.
The Braves won three of four in the series and moved within 3½ games of the NL East-leading Mets. Atlanta has won nine of 10.
New York has dropped three of four after winning 17 of 20.
Fried (11-4) lasted seven innings, giving up two runs and four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
DeGrom (2-1) allowed five hits and three runs with no walks and nine strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
Grissom beat out an infield single with two outs in the seventh, finishing deGrom and bringing Seth Lugo from the bullpen. Harris followed with a grounder up the middle that split a pair of New York infielders and Grissom, running hard the whole way, beat the throw to the plate.
Kenley Jansen avoided major trouble to earn his 27th save in 31 chances.
Lindor singled to begin the ninth and was trying to steal as Pete Alonso hit a blooper to right-center field. Lindor had already slid head-first into second when he saw the ball and, thinking it would be caught, retreated in a hurry back to first.
But the ball dropped among three fielders and Lindor, most of the way to back, could only watch as right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. picked it up and tossed to second for an easy forceout.
Jansen struck out Daniel Vogelbach, and pinch-runner Deven Marrero stole second with Jeff McNeil batting. McNeil grounded out to Jansen to end it.
The Mets made it 2-all in the fifth when Mark Canha hit his eighth homer, a two-run drive. Canha, who doubled twice in Wednesday’s 9-7 win, snapped Fried’s streak of 69 1/3 innings without allowing a homer, the longest stretch in the majors. Fried gave up his previous homer June 9 against Pittsburgh.
Fried, who came off the injured list after missing the last nine games with a concussion, allowed his first hit when Canha doubled to begin the third. Canha advanced to third on rookie Brett Baty’s single with no out, but Fried escaped the jam with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout.
DeGrom, in his fourth start since injuries made him miss nearly 13 months, gave up a two-out single to Austin Riley in the first and a one-out single to Robbie Grossman in the third. Dansby Swanson doubled home Grossman for a 1-0 lead.
Riley, the next batter, came through with another two-out RBI, driving in Swanson with a single. DeGrom retired the next 12 batters he faced before Grissom reached in the seventh.
A two-time Cy Young Award winner, DeGrom threw 95 pitches, his most since a 109-pitch shutout win over Washington on April 23, 2021.
Since becoming a full-time starter in 2019, Fried has 49 wins, second-most in the majors to the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole with 52 over that span. The lefty improved to 6-5 with a 2.84 ERA in 15 career starts and five relief appearances against the Mets.
DeGrom began the game leading the majors with a 1.93 ERA since the start of 2018 with a minimum of 400 innings pitched. He dropped to 10-8 with a 2.08 ERA in 27 career starts against the Braves.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets RHP Taijuan Walker (back spasms) played catch and will pitch Sunday if he feels 100%. ... Braves 2B Ozzie Albies (broken foot) ran in the field but still has no timetable for his return.
UP NEXT
Mets: RHP Chris Bassitt (10-7, 3.27 ERA) will face Aaron Nola (8-9, 3.07) when New York opens a four-game series at Philadelphia.
Braves: RHP Kyle Wright (14-5, 3.14 ERA) will face Lance McCullers Jr. (1-0, 0.00) when Atlanta begins a three-game home series against Houston in a rematch of last year’s World Series.