A comeback win 10 games into the season isn’t a big deal for most teams.
But most teams didn’t have a season-opening, nine-game sequence like the one endured by the New York Mets.
The Mets will look to build on their Monday dramatics one night later when they visit the Atlanta Braves in the second contest of a four-game series between the National League East rivals.
Adrian Houser (0-0, 1.80 ERA) is slated to start for New York against Reynaldo Lopez (0-0, 1.50) in a matchup of right-handers.
The Mets overcame an early four-run deficit Monday, and DJ Stewart’s two-run, eighth-inning homer gave New York the lead for good in an 8-7 victory.
The eight runs were a season high for the Mets, who have scored 17 runs in their last three games after scoring just 16 runs in their first seven contests.
New York was limited to one hit in a 3-1, season-opening loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, dropped a pair of extra-inning games to Detroit and was no-hit into the eighth inning of a 2-1 win over the Tigers in the second game of a doubleheader on Thursday.
The Mets took two of three from the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend, but the series opener in Atlanta seemed to be unfolding in familiar fashion when the Braves took a 4-0 lead in the third against Julio Teheran, who was making his debut for New York.
But New York, which went 4-12 in Atlanta the previous two seasons, received 6 1/3 innings of three-run relief from a quintet of relievers. Brandon Nimmo hit a pair of game-tying homers before Stewart, who was hitless in 19 plate appearances this season, put the Mets ahead with his shot to center.
The Mets scored four runs in the final 3 1/3 innings against the Atlanta bullpen, which entered Monday with a 1.87 ERA (seven runs allowed in 33 2/3 innings).
“What a team win,” New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. “From top to bottom, contributions from a lot of people.”
The Braves nearly mounted a comeback against the Mets in the final two innings. Ozzie Albies worked a bases-loaded walk in the eighth before Drew Smith got Austin Riley to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the frame.
Atlanta’s Matt Olson led off the ninth with a double before left fielder Tyrone Taylor made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Marcell Ozuna of an RBI extra-base hit. Olson scored on a single by Michael Harris II, but the latter was stranded at second when Jorge Lopez got Orlando Arcia to pop out and retired Travis d’Arnaud on a long fly to right.
“It was another resilient effort from the hitters,” Braves left-hander A.J. Minter, who surrendered Nimmo’s second homer in the seventh inning, said according to MLB.com. “You’ve just got to stay in the game and these hitters will give you a chance.”
Neither Houser nor Lopez factored into the decision in his season debut.
Houser gave up one run over five-plus innings during the opener of the Thursday doubleheader, when the Mets fell to the Tigers 6-3 in 11 innings. He is 0-4 with a 4.88 ERA in six career games (five starts) against the Braves.
Lopez allowed one run over six innings on April 2, when the Braves lost 3-2 to the Chicago White Sox. He is 1-2 with a 3.77 ERA in six games (two starts) vs. the Mets.
