Atlanta Braves Get Destroyed By The New York Mets, 16-5…What Went Wrong?

Braves, Colon Fall To Mets In Game 3 of Series

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Bartolo Colon didn’t have his best stuff on Wednesday night against his former team.  He lasted just four innings, gave up seven hits, five earned runs, two walks and didn’t record a strikeout.

This is the second time in his six starts that Colon hasn’t been able to get to the fifth inning.  That’s never what you want from your starter especially with the Braves 2017 bullpen.  Also, Atlanta has played every day since their April 25th rain out and won’t have another off day until next Monday.

1st Inning Disaster

Michael Conforto started ruining our night right out of the gate.  Colon gave up two straight doubles to start the game and then a walk to Jay Bruce.  Down 1-0 already, Big Sexy  gave up another double to Neil Walker which scored another run.  Luckly, Colon stopped the bleeding when he got Curtis Granderson to pop out and Jose Reyes hit into a double play.

Three doubles, a walk and 20 pitches thrown in the 1st inning.  Ugh, okay.  Down only 2-0.

Can We Please Get Something Going?

Braves go down quickly in the 1st inning — 1, 2, 3.  They actually don’t get a hit until two outs in the 2nd inning off the bat of Tyler Flowers.

The Mets hit a couple hard balls off Colon in the 2nd, but was able to get two quick outs.  Then gave up a single to Jacob deGrom.  It’s going to be a long night isn’t it?

The 3rd inning started like this — Colon hit Asdrubal Cabrerea, got Jay Bruce to fly out, gave up a walk to Neil Walker and then another double to Granderson.  Take a breath, now we’re back.  Colon then gives up two straight singles which scores two more runs.  Mets up 5-0.

“He’s just getting too much of the plate,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said in his post game interview.  “Too many right down the middle.  It’s just about location with him.”

Braves Try To Fight Back

The Braves try to get back into the game starting in the bottom of the 3rd inning.  Dansby Swanson led off the inning with a walk, but then Colon struck out and Inciarte popped out.  Two outs and Adonis Garcia singles and Freddie Freeman roped a sharp grounder to left which scored Swanson.  Atlanta’s on the board!

In the 4th inning, Nick Markakis and Flowers had back-to-back singles.  Okay, let’s get things going here!  Then, Jace Peterson grounded into a double play.  UGH!!

With Markakis at third, Swanson walked again.  With two on and two outs, Braves manager Brian Snitker decided to remove Colon from the game and use pinch-hitter Emilio Bonifacio.  Colon threw only 68 pitches and Boni has only one pinch-hit this season (Tuesday night got a single).

HE CAME THROUGH!!!

Bonifacio tripled to score two runs!  Hell yeah!

Interesting little stat right there.  It took 10 games to get a triple at SunTrust Park.

Let’s Get Through This Game

The Mets score four more runs in the 5th inning off relief pitcher Josh Collmenter.  New York was up 9-3 at this point.

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The Braves score two runs in the bottom of the 5th inning.  Jace Peterson hit a double with two outs that scored both Flowers and Matt Kemp.

At this point, the game was 9-5 and I really thought the Braves were still in this game.  The 2017 Braves team just gives that feeling they can come back in any game.

That thought was real…until the top of the 8th inning.

The Mets poured it on with seven runs off Eric O’Flaherty and Matt Wisler.  Yeah…Braves lose 16-5 in just an ugly game.

The Braves have scored 49 runs at the new SunTrust Park and they’ve now allowed 60 runs.

Good / Bad / Ugly

In the post game, Joe Simpson hinted toward something wrong with Bartolo Colon’s arm.  He brought up his past DL stints and that he’s never had arm issues, but could have something going on.  This is definitely something to keep our eyes on.

“I just hope he can figure it out,” Snitker said of Colon.  “He’s figured it out before.  I just hope he can do it.”

Flowers continues to hit – went 2-3 with a walk.  Now batting .396

Swason had three walks and scored twice.  He’s now reached base in 10 straight games with seven hits and 8 walks.

Ian Krol and Jason Motte both pitched scoreless innings.

A couple good plays by Inciarte in the outfield.  Flowers had a great stop behind the plate.  Garcia made another barehanded play at third.

Yeah…that’s about all the good I can come up with in this game.

“The runs in the 5th hurt the most and then it got out of hand in the 8th,” Snitker said in the post game.  “We’ve got to throw up some zeros to keep us in the game.”

Or maybe enjoy this…if you can

Next: Atlanta Braves Minor Leagues April All-Stars

Not a pretty one, let’s put this game behind us.  Game four of this series starts tomorrow 7:35pm ET.  Jaime Garcia starts on the mound for the Braves.