Gut Reaction: Braves 7, Mets 4 (6/24/25)

It’s very hard to win when you give up 9 BB and your hitters strike out 14 times.

The Mets got strong starting pitching and enough offense to win but the bullpen was atrocious and the end result was a 7-4 loss to the Braves Tuesday night at Citi Field.

Frankie Montas made his first start as a Met and delivered five shutout innings. He left with the Mets holding a 3-0 lead. But Huascar Brazoban, Jose Castillo and Reed Garrett combined to allow five runs in the sixth inning. Castillo is not providing any value at all and should be DFAd.

Richard Lovelady made his Mets debut and looked good in the seventh inning. The Mets sent him back out for the eighth and he ran out of gas. Dedniel Nunez came on for the final four outs and did not walk a batter. He should move up in the pen’s pecking order.

The Mets had just five hits for the game, with three of them coming in the ninth. It’s hard to get a hit when you’re striking out. Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Starling Marte, Luis Torrens and Brett Baty each struck out two times. Baty’s second whiff came in the ninth inning. He swung at ball four and then watched strike three. There’s just too much of that going on. Alonso now has 57 Ks in his last 191 PA, a 29.8 K%.

Perhaps Wednesday the Mets will get strong work from both the starter and the pen. Clay Holmes gets the ball for the 7:10 p.m. start.