New York Mets at Atlanta Braves Betting Preview
NL East rivals will square off in the finale of a four-game series on Thursday as the New York Mets (76-42) take on the Atlanta Braves (72-47). The Braves will host this one at Truist Park, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:20 pm ET.
After the Braves took the first two games of the series, New York bounced back with a win on Wednesday, 9-7. In the victory, Max Scherzer went 6.1 innings, allowing four runs, and struck out eight.
Offensively, the Mets hit four home runs, including two by outfielder Starling Marte. Francisco Lindor also hit his 20th home run of the season, while rookie Brett Baty hit his first career home run in his first career at bat.
Jake Odorizzi took the loss for the Braves. He went five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out just two.
Robbie Grossman hit his fourth home run of the season, but the problem was the lack of production towards the top of the order. The first five hitters in the Braves’ lineup combined to go hitless in 17 at bats.
Mets Try To Create More Separation
At 76-42, the Mets have the second-best record in all of baseball, but they still sit just 4.5 games ahead of the Braves. New York will look to split the series with Atlanta and push their division lead back up to 5.5 games.
Luckily, the Mets have their co-ace taking the mound Thursday in righty Jacob deGrom. In three games since returning from injury, deGrom is 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA, 0.42 WHIP, and he has struck out 28 in 16.2 innings.
In his last start, he picked up the win over the Phillies, pitching six innings, allowing no runs on two hits while striking out 10. The start before that, he gave up one run to the Braves in 5.2 innings while striking out 12.
Offensively, keep an eye on first baseman Pete Alonso in this one. Against the Braves’ Max Fried, Alonso is hitting .296 in 27 career at bats with two home runs and seven runs batted in. Mark Canha and Francisco Lindor have also homered off of Fried in their careers.
Atlanta Looks For Series Win At Home
Having won eight of their last 10, the Braves are playing great baseball right now and would love nothing more than to pick up a series win against the division-leading Mets. Playing at home, where they are 39-23, the Braves will look to use home field advantage to take down one of the game’s best pitchers.
The Braves are sending out a pretty solid pitcher of their own in lefty Max Fried. In 22 games this season, he is 10-4 with a 2.60 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and has 127 strikeouts in 138.1 innings.
Returning from a concussion, Fried will be making his first start since August 6. In that start, against the Mets, he allowed just two runs over six innings while striking out five.
Against Jacob deGrom, Austin Riley has had the most success as he has homered twice off the righty with four runs batted in. The problem for Riley is that he has gone ice cold in the month of August. In the last two weeks, he is hitting just .203/.309/.339 with a single home run and six runs batted in.
One of the hottest hitters over the last two weeks has been Matt Olson. In that span, he leads the team with four home runs and 12 runs batted in.
Take The Runline
Assuming that Max Fried is able to return to form as he returns from a concussion, this has the makings of being a stellar matchup of top-level pitchers. With that in mind, runs could come at a premium.
Looking at the trends, the Mets are 6-3 in their last nine against the Braves, and they are 10-4 in their last 14 road games.
For Atlanta, they are 6-2 in their last eight home games and 8-1 overall in their last nine games.
Make sure to check the odds closer to game time, but with both teams playing good ball and both teams having strong pitchers taking the mound, expect this to be low-scoring and close throughout. For that reason, take the team getting the +1.5 on the runline.
