Mets hit three home runs to win pivotal NL East series vs. Braves
ATLANTA — The Mets managed to find a way to silence the doubters and the Braves faithful.
After falling victim to the long ball on Tuesday, the Mets prove that they can win games that way too one day later.
With a trio of home runs off Charlie Morton, the Mets exited Atlanta with a 7-3 victory over the Braves and a series win in front of 34,879 fans in a Wednesday matinee at Truist Park.
The win helped the Mets grow their NL East advantage to 2.5 games over the surging Braves with one four-game series left to go against the struggling Cubs beginning on Thursday at Wrigley Field.
It began with an early round-tripper from Eduardo Escobar, who blasted a 426-foot solo shot off the face of the Chop House restaurant in right field for the opening run of the game.
In the top of the next inning, Tomas Nido drew a walk and Brandon Nimmo singled before Francisco Lindor ripped a 2-2 fastball for a three-run home run to right field. Mark Canha extended the Mets' lead to 5-0 in the top of the sixth inning with a towering shot that crawled over the left-field wall.
Those three home runs kick-started the Mets' most convincing win over the Braves on the season.
Quality job
Chris Bassitt continued a strong run of starting pitching for the Mets against the Braves.
After Max Scherzer and David Peterson combined to strike out 18 batters and allow just five hits in 12⅓ innings during the opening two games of the series, Bassitt stayed in line.
He finished with six innings pitched and six strikeouts while allowing one earned run on five hits and two walks. It was his fifth straight quality start as he has lowered his ERA from 4.35 to 3.79 during that stretch.
The Braves' lone run off Bassitt came on a solo home run to Matt Olson on an 0-2 fastball over the heart of the plate. It was Olson's second home run of the series, but he was 0-for-10 with eight strikeouts otherwise.
The Braves' major threat came in the bottom of the fourth as Austin Riley blooped a single and Eddie Rosario doubled into the right-field corner, but Lindor made a strong play to throw out Adam Duvall from the grass for the final out of the inning.
Mighty middle infield
With Jeff McNeil out of the lineup as he awaited the birth of a child, Luis Guillorme was able to pick up the slack at second base.
In his first game at the cleanup spot in his career, Guillorme opened the game with three hitless at-bats. Then, he picked it up to extend his hitting streak to seven games with an RBI double down the left-field line off Jesse Chavez to move the Mets ahead 6-1 in the top of the seventh.
Over the course of the series, Guillorme, who is making a case for more regular playing time every day, finished 4-for-9 with a pair of doubles, a home run and three RBI.
Meanwhile, Lindor also provided a lift when the team needed it.
With his three-run home run in the third inning, Lindor reached 64 RBI on the season, which is one more than his entire total from the 2021 season. The home run was his 16th of the season so far. He did not reach that figure until his three home run-game against the Yankees on Sept. 12 last season.
Lindor also reached on an error and came across to score on a balk by Chavez in the seventh.