Braves at Mets
The New York Mets averaged 6.3 runs while winning 11 of 12 games but are having a harder time pushing runs across in the last three contests. The Mets will try to bounce back from a shutout when they host the struggling Atlanta Braves in the rubber match of a three-game series on Wednesday.
New York dropped two of its last three games and managed a total of one run in the two losses. Matt Wisler carved up the Mets lineup on Tuesday, yielding one hit in eight scoreless innings before Arodys Vizcaino finished off the one-hit shutout with a perfect ninth. The win was the third in the last five games for the Braves, who sit last in the majors in home runs but got a solo blast from rookie Mallex Smith – the first of his career – on Tuesday in the 3-0 triumph. Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman, who has half of the team’s six home runs on the season, doubled twice on Tuesday and is 13-for-30 over the last eight games to lift his average from .177 to .261.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), SNY (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Braves RH Jhoulys Chacin (1-1, 3.27 ERA) vs. Mets LH Steven Matz (3-1, 3.86)
Chacin picked up his first win and helped stop Atlanta’s eight-game slide with five strong innings at Boston on Thursday. The Venezuela native allowed two runs on six hits and a pair of walks in the win but has not completed six innings in any of his last three outings. Chacin went 5 2/3 innings at home against New York on April 23 and was reached for four runs – three earned – on seven hits and two walks in an 8-2 loss.
Matz started opposite Chacin at Atlanta on April 23 and scattered two runs and nine hits over 6 1/3 innings while striking out eight to earn the win. The 24-year-old has won three straight starts while allowing a total of two earned runs in 19 1/3 innings with 21 strikeouts. Matz battled through six scoreless innings against San Francisco on Friday and got plenty of support in a 13-1 victory.
WALK-OFFS
1. Braves OF Ender Inciarte (hamstring) is set to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday.
2. New York SS Asdrubal Cabrera recorded the team’s lone hit on Tuesday and is 3-for-7 in the series.
3. Atlanta C A.J. Pierzynski is 3-for-8 with a pair of doubles in the series.