Olson Goes Deep Twice as Atlanta Holds Off New York

Matt Olson hit two home runs and drove in two runs to power Atlanta past New York, 5-3, on July 3rd. The Mets made it interesting in the ninth, but the Braves had already done enough damage to survive.

Atlanta wasted no time. In the second inning, Michael Harris II launched a 419-foot shot to center, scoring Dubón, and just like that the Braves were up 2-0. New York's Christian Scott was dealing — 7 strikeouts in 4.0 innings — but four walks were bleeding the Mets dry before they could get anything going offensively. Then Juan Soto changed the entire complexion of the game. His 359-foot homer to left in the third scored Ewing and tied it at 2-2, swinging Atlanta's win probability from 81% to 66% in a single swing. That was the closest New York would get.

The Braves answered immediately. Ozzie Albies followed Soto's blast with a 386-foot shot to right in the same inning, putting Atlanta back in front 3-2. Scott was pulled after four innings, and Kodai Senga came on and looked sharp — 4 strikeouts over 2.2 innings, allowing just 1 earned run — but the Mets' offense went quiet. Matt Olson made sure of it. He went deep to right center in the fifth (429 feet) to push the lead to 4-2, and then, as if one statement wasn't enough, he came back in the eighth and hit another one — 411 feet to right — to make it 5-2. Two home runs, two RBI, two runs scored. The story of the night was Olson refusing to let New York back in.

Grant Holmes did his job for Atlanta, going 5.0 innings and allowing just 1 earned run, and Didier Fuentes closed things out with 1.1 scoreless innings. New York mounted a token rally in the ninth — Bo Bichette singled to right to score Torrens and move Soto to third, trimming the deficit to 5-3 — but that's where it ended. Soto finished 2-for-4 with a homer and 2 RBI, and Francisco Alvarez went 2-for-4, but the Mets couldn't string enough together against an Atlanta bullpen that gave them nothing to work with. This looks like a game where New York's starting pitching situation — Scott's four walks in four innings — cost them any real chance of stealing this one on the road.