Atlanta Braves get five homers, run support for Chris Sale, defeat Mets 14-3

The Atlanta Braves have now won their third game in the last four tries, following a 14-3 victory over the struggling New York Mets.

The Braves came into the Fourth of July having only needed five hits to defeat the Mets on Friday night. Four of those hits were home runs by Matt Olson (two solo shots), Ozzie Albies (another solo deal), and Michael Harris II (two-run homer in the second inning).

This time it was Eli White’s turn. He hit his fourth home run of the season, a 358-footer to left field, in the second inning, to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead. Harris II came to the plate with the bases loaded in the third inning and hit a single to give Atlanta a 2-0 advantage. White struck again when his routine fly ball to shallow center field was mishandled by Mets shortstop Jose Lindor and center fielder Tyrone Taylor. Ruled a double, the hit cleared the bases and gave the Braves a 5-0 lead.

Saturday night’s game was the featured game on Fox and had a special 8 p.m. start. Chris Sale was on the mound for Atlanta and looking for a win. He had been winless in his previous four starts against the Blue Jays and Brewers at Truist Park, and in Chicago against the White Sox and in San Francisco on June 28. Sale had gone an average of five innings in all four starts and struck out six or more batters during each start.

During the fourth inning, after having an easy time with the Mets lineup the first time around, Sale found himself in trouble in the fourth. New York had two runners on after Francisco Lindor singled, and Juan Soto got on courtesy of an error by Albies. With two on and no outs, the Mets failed to score after Sale got Bo Bichette, Mark Vientos, and Eric Wagaman to pop out without bringing in a run.

The home runs kept coming as Mauricio Dubon added to the two-night total, now five, with a solo shot down the left field line to put Atlanta ahead 6-0.

Taylor helped the Mets score their first run of the game on, you guessed it, a solo home run. Sale hadn’t given up a home run in the previous 46 innings prior to Taylor’s at-bat.

He gave up two more runs when Mark Vientos homered with Bichette on first.

Mets starter Sean Manaea reached the 100-pitch mark in the fifth inning. He struck out Olson and Austin Riley before getting Harris II to fly out to center field. Sale almost passed the 100 pitch mark during the sixth inning, but got pulled out of the game at 98 with two runners on and no outs.

During his start, Sale saw two runners on base with no outs several times, including with Juan Soto at the plate in the fifth inning. He got himself out of the earlier trouble, but the Braves’ bullpen got him out of a mess in the sixth. Dylan Lee came on in relief and proceeded to strike out Carson Benge, Taylor, and Brett Baty to end the inning.

The home run contest continued as White hit another one, this time it was a two-run blast, to put Atlanta ahead 10-3, third baseman Austin Riley hit a three-run dinger over the right field fence to make the score 13-3, and Harris II hit a solo homer 386 feet over the right field fence to put a 14th run on the board.

Sunday’s game, the third of this four-game series, has a 12:30 p.m. scheduled first pitch.

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