Rain can’t stop Charlie Morton or the ball as Braves top Mets 4-2

Well, they say the best things come to those who wait and that proved true tonight, unless you’re a Mets fan of course. After a 55-minute rain delay before the first pitch, baseball could finally be played and it was worth the wait. Charlie Morton pitched seven solid innings and the Braves used the long ball on offense to defeat the Mets 4-2.

Morton started off looking good, striking out the side in the first. It was in the second round that he found a little trouble. Pete Alonso led off with a double and was moved to third on a groundout. After a Jeff McNeil walk, the Mets had runners on first and third with one out. But Charlie got away with it when Harrison Bader hit a ball straight to Austin Riley at third, who threw home to put Alonso at the plate. Morton then struck out Brett Batty to end the inning.

The Braves offense took over from there, and did so in a vaguely familiar way: hitting baseballs over the fence. It started with 2 outs and no one in the 3rd when Ronald Acuńa Jr destroyed a baseball 468 feet to center field at 114 mph for a solo home run to make the score 1-0.

His accomplice Ozzie Albies then followed with a solo shot down the left field line to make the score 2-0. Austin Riley followed up with a walk, then Matt Olson did this:

It was Olson’s fourth home run of the year and his first since April 7, the longest home run streak of his career and the Braves leading 4-0.

From there, Morton took over. He played out-single-double in the third, groundout-popout-groundout in the fourth, groundout-flyout-strikeout in the fifth and groundout-strikeout-flyout in the sixth. For four straight innings after the Braves took a 4-0 lead, Morton faced the minimum. It wasn’t until Fransisco Lindor’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh that Morton actually allowed any damage. And even after the home run, he retired the next three batters in order. Morton finished with 7 innings pitched, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 7 strikeouts and 1 walk.

AJ Minter entered the eighth and dominated his inning, striking out all three batters he faced. For the ninth, Brian Snitker called on Raisel Iglesias and although he had some difficulties, a walk and a single leading to a run, he managed to close the door to a victory for the Braves 4-2.

With the win, the Braves improve to 23-12 on the season while New York falls to 18-19. The weekend series continued tomorrow at Citi Field with Max Fried facing Christian Scott for the Mets. First pitch is at 4:10 p.m. ET.