Charlie Morton pitched seven scoreless innings and earned his 100th career win as the visiting Atlanta Braves blanked the New York Mets 3-0 on Tuesday.
All the Atlanta offense came from shortstop Dansby Swanson, who connected for a three-run homer off reliever Yennsy Diaz in the third inning. It was his 12th home run of the year.
Morton (7-3) allowed only one hit, a high chopper from pinch hitter Jerad Eickhoff with two outs in the fifth inning. Eickhoff, a pitcher, was called on to hit because of injuries to New York position players that left the bench short-handed.
Morton extended his streak of scoreless innings to 14 2/3 innings. He walked two batters, hit two with pitches and stuck out a season-high 11.
Morton posted his first career win with Atlanta in 2008, the only season of his first stint with the Braves. He pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates (2009-15), Philadelphia Phillies (2016), Houston Astros (2017-18) and Tampa Bay Rays (2019-20) before rejoining Atlanta this year.
Atlanta’s A.J. Minter pitched a perfect eighth inning and Will Smith worked around a two-out double to throw a scoreless ninth and secure his 15th save.
The Braves handed the Mets back-to-back losses at Citi Field for only the second time this season. Atlanta has won the middle two games of the four-game series by shutouts after dropping the opener.
The game started 26 minutes late because of a rain delay. New York starter Marcus Stroman left after one-plus inning because of left hip soreness. He only threw three pitches in the second inning before being lifted.
Diaz (0-1) pitched two innings and allow three runs on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
The Mets got outstanding middle relief from Drew Smith, who struck out three in two scoreless innings, and Aaron Loup, who fanned four in three shutout innings. It was Loup’s 11th consecutive scoreless outing, a stretch of 11 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media