Right now, even when things go right for the Mets, they can’t win. An injured starter overcoming a terrible rehab assignment should have been the story of the night, but a bullpen meltdown led to the Mets dropping yet another game to the Braves, 7-4.
Frankie Montas made his first start as a Met this evening, and began the game with a flourish, striking out Ronald Acuña Jr. for the first out of the game. Matt Olson walked and Marcell Ozuna singled to put two on with one out for Atlanta. Next up was Austin Riely, who Montas induced a double play ball from to escape the inning unscathed.
After an uneventful second, the Braves threatened again in the third. Nick Allen drilled a one-out single up the middle before Acuña walked. A sac fly and stolen base put two in scoring position with two outs for Ozuna. Despite being squeezed on a few pitches by home plate umpire Adam Hamari, Ozuna flailed at an outside Montas fastball to keep the game knotted up at 0-0.
Things were quiet against Spencer Strider until the bottom of the fourth, when Juan Soto walked for the second time leading off the inning. Pete Alonso then lined a single up the middle. A walk to Starling Marte loaded the bases with just one out. The slumping Jeff McNeil was next, and he lofted a ball down the left field line that was deep enough for Soto to score, giving the Mets the first lead of the series. A walk to Luis Torrens loaded the bases again for Brett Baty, who lined a ball over the second baseman for a two-run single and the Mets were up 3-0.
Montas got through five innings in total, allowing three hits, three walks, and five strikeouts with no runs crossing the plate. After some truly poor rehab appearances, this could only be seen as a very good start for Montas.
Huascar Brazobán was the first out of the bullpen and things went poorly from the jump, with Brazobán walking the first three batters to face him, loading the bases with no outs. Ozzie Albies hit a sacrifie fly to score their first run of the game. That was all for Brazobán, and Jose Castillo was coming into try to salvage the inning.
On the second pitch from Castillo, a liner hit off of Baty’s glove, and a second run came in to score, with the Braves only down by one with one out. Next up was Michael Harris II, one of the coldest hitters in the league, and he was hit by Castillo’s first pitch to re-load the bases. Allen collected his third hit of the night, driving in the tying run and still there was just one out.
That would be it for Castillo, and Reed Garrett was next out of the chute. He got Acuña to whiff on what should’ve been a bases loaded walk for the second out of the inning. However, Matt Olsen banged a single to right, scoring two, and putting the Braves up 5-3.
Eventually, that half-inning mercifully ended.
Newest Met Dicky Richard Lovelady was next out of the ‘pen in the seventh, and in his first inning of work was excellent. His second did not go quite as well, as, after getting the first two outs, gave up a walk and double, pushing another Atlanta run across the board. Another walk to Ozuna spelled the end of Lovelady’s night. Dedniel Núñez came in next, and gave up a double to Austin Riley, and it was now 7-3 Atlanta.
In the ninth, the Mets showed some signs of life. Ronny Mauricio drove in a run on a double down the right field line to bring in the fourth Met run of the game, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Braves from taking their fifth straight from the Mets.
The Mets have Clay Holmes taking the hill tomorrow against Didier Fuentes in a 7:10 start.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Mets vs Braves WPA Chart 6/24/25
Big Mets winner: Frankie Montas, +25.0%
Big Mets loser: Jose Castillo, -34.8% WPA
Mets pitchers: -44.4% W{A
Mets hitters: -5.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brett Baty’s two-run single, +16.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Matt Olson’s two-run single, -26.3% WPA