Two days ago, the Mets had lost their fifth straight game against the Braves. It also marked their tenth loss in the past eleven games, and the team found themselves a game and a half behind the Phillies in the NL East. It seemed like the sky was falling with no end to the struggles in sight. Now, two days later, things are looking a little bit different. The team’s recent ailments are certainly still a cause for concern—and it’s suddenly looking like the team will need to continue piecing their pitching staff together—but following a much-needed win last night, the Mets followed with a second-straight victory against Atlanta to split the series and put them back in front in the NL East.
Unfortunately, the first noteworthy moment from this game was one which has the potential to dramatically alter the state of the Mets’ pitching staff for the remainder of the year. Griffin Canning was tonight’s starter, and he was looking to rebound following some rough outings thus far in June. He had held the Braves off the board for the first couple innings, and then with one out in the third and a runner on Nick Allen hit a groundball to shortstop. As he was turning to the ball, Canning’s left ankle seemingly gave out and he collapsed to the ground. He was unable to put any weight on the ankle as he was gingerly helped off the field, and while we don’t know definitively yet, it looked an awful like an Achilles tear of some kind. Such an injury—or one of similar significance—would certainly mark the end of Canning’s year, which is the last thing this team needs given the current state of its pitching staff.
Alas, the larger ramifications of this potential injury are for another time. For the moment, the Mets needed to piece together 6.1 innings from the bullpen and try to win a baseball game. Austin Warren—just added to the active roster today—came on to replace Canning, and he performed as admirably as one could hope for. He got a quick out to finish the third and followed that with another two scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth. It’s entirely possible that he will immediately find his way back to the minors in favor of another fresh arm, but for tonight Warren’s contributions were exactly what the doctor ordered.
Meanwhile, the Mets offense was tasked to try to put some runs on the board against Grant Holmes—one of the less imposing arms in the Braves’ rotation—but they failed to get anything across the first three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, they finally broke through. Juan Soto walked to lead off the inning, and Pete Alonso followed with a single (one that just barely missed being a home run to right field) to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Jeff McNeil then hit a fly ball to center field, and while Soto looked like he was going to attempt to score as Michael Harris caught the ball, he decided against doing so. That decision didn’t end up making much of a difference, as Tyrone Taylor then hit another fly ball—this one to right field, and bit deeper—which did score Soto from third for the first run of the ballgame. The Mets didn’t add on in that inning, but they did in the bottom of the fifth (in what would prove to be Holmes’s final inning for Atlanta). After Ronny Mauricio struck out to begin the frame, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo hit back-to-back singles to once again put a runner in scoring position. Soto then popped out in the infield for the second out, but Alonso made sure the scoring opportunity wasn’t wasted, as he lined a two-out single to center field to score Lindor and make it 2-0.
Dedniel Núñez came on in the top of the sixth inning, and his outing turned out to be even more impressive than Warren. He pitched two perfect innings, striking out the last four batters he faced. It was easily his best outing of the 2025 season, and given all the horrors that have befallen the team’s pitching staff in recent weeks, one most hope that it indicates that someone resembling the 2024 Núñez is back. His scoreless outing also provided the offense with the opportunity to add to their lead, which they did in the bottom of the seventh. New pitcher Dylan Dodd recorded the first two outs in the frame, but Soto then hit a sharp gorund ball single to right field, and Alonso followed with a double to left to put runners on second and third. McNeil then provided a much-needed clutch hit, lining the first pitch he saw just out of the reach of Allen at shortstop into center field to score both runs and give the Mets a 4-0 lead.
That proved to be plenty for the Amazins, whose bullpen continued to shine. Ryne Stanek pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout, and after the Mets went down in order in the bottom of the frame, Edwin Díaz came on to finish things off in the ninth. He allowed a two-out single to Matt Olson—the first Braves baserunner since the fourth inning—but otherwise shut Atlanta down to end the game. It concluded a remarkable game for the relief corps following the Canning injury, as they combined for 6.1 scoreless innings with two hits, no walks, and eight strikeouts.
And just like that, the Mets find themselves with a series split against the Braves. They also find themselves back in first place by half a game following these last two wins and a sweep of the Phillies in Houston. It has certainly been a challenging stretch for the team, and we will need to hear the official news on Canning and see how the club responds. But one may hope that they are finally out of the woods. They will now head to Pittsburgh for a three-game series against the Pirates.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Pete Alonso, +21.8% WPA
Big Mets loser: Francisco Lindor, -9.7% WPA
Mets pitchers: +43.3% WPA
Mets hitters: +6.7% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Pete Alonso RBI single in the fifth, +11.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Marcell Ozuna single in the fourth, -5.1% WPA