ATLANTA \u2014 A.J. Ewing took over the leadoff spot Friday night, but reshuffling the cards didn\u2019t get the Mets far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A disappointing lineup remained on brand, and aside from an early Juan Soto homer and ninth inning rally was largely silent in a 5-3 loss to the Braves at Truist Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ewing went 0-for-3 in his debut atop the order on a night the Mets dropped a season-worst 16 games below .500. The Braves had just five hits, but four were homers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Interim manager Andy Green indicated his plan is to keep Ewing at leadoff against right-handed pitching. Carson Benge, who was hitting in that spot, moved to fifth in the order.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat [Ewing] has done in his short stint in the big leagues, he\u2019s putting up a [.375] on-base percentage against right-handed pitching, that is incredibly rare for a rookie,\u201d Green said before the game. \u201cIt fits his long-term skill set: speed, grinds at-bats, shoots the ball around the yard and it also fits Carson to be a middle-of-the-order type guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carson Benge reacts during the Mets\u2019 loss to the Braves on July 3. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
\u201cCarson filled into that spot ably, he slid into that spot before A.J. was called up to the big leagues and did a really nice job on that spot. It doesn\u2019t mean he won\u2019t ever go back to that spot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Christian Scott lasted just four innings, allowing three earned runs on two hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. Scott\u2019s start was his shortest since May 18 at Washington (also four innings). <\/p>\n
He departed after 82 pitches on this night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson celebrate during the Mets\u2019 July 3 loss to the Braves. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Michael Harris II blasted a two-run homer in the second to put the Mets in a 2-0 hole. Scott walked Mauricio Dub\u00f3n leading off the inning before throwing a first-pitch fastball that Harris launched over the center-field fence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soto tied it with a two-run homer in the third. After Ewing reached on Matt Olson\u2019s fielding error, Soto hit a shot just inside the left-field foul pole near the visitor\u2019s bullpen. Adding to the moment, reliever Cionel P\u00e9rez caught the ball in his cap. Soto\u2019s homer was his team-leading 18th.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scott surrendered a homer to Ozzie Albies in the third that put the Mets in a 3-2 hole. Albies crushed a 2-1 fastball into the right-field seats.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Christian Scott throws a pitch during the Mets\u2019 July 3 loss. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
\u201cThose two innings [the second and third] got my pitch count up and I just wasn\u2019t good enough,\u201d Scott said. \u201cI have just got to do a better job attacking the zone early. I thought they put me in some long at-bats there in those innings and they were well-executed by them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scott concluded his outing by striking out the side in the fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe\u2019s at his best when he\u2019s attacking and he\u2019s certainly trying to do that,\u201d Green said. \u201cInnings two and three, he got behind Dub\u00f3n and that started that inning and then Harris jumped him. It was just scattered command for a couple of innings. It was good to see him battle back in the fourth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Olson\u2019s homer against A.J. Minter in the fifth extended the Braves\u2019 lead to 4-2. It was the first earned run allowed by Minter in 15 appearances this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Olson\u2019s second homer of the night, an eighth-inning blast against Kodai Senga, widened the Mets\u2019 deficit to 5-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bo Bichette\u2019s RBI single in the ninth sliced the Braves\u2019 lead to 5-3, but Francisco Lindor was retired for the final out with the tying runs on base.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t able to string anything together,\u201d Green said. \u201cIn isolation there was a good at-bat here and there \u2026 the Soto home run the other way was ridiculously good. His at-bats continue to be ridiculously good. And the rest of the lineup scattered decent at-bats.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 A.J. Ewing took over the leadoff spot Friday night, but reshuffling the cards didn\u2019t get the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[77480,107244,13831,6595,20,9,11,320,10,319],"class_list":["post-286618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-a-j-ewing","tag-andy-green","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-carson-benge","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}