Braves shutout Mets to close out regular season

Atlanta finishes with an 88-73 record.

Jorge Soler homered to lead off the game and the Atlanta Braves never looked back as they closed out the regular season with a 5-0 win over the New York Mets.

Soler got things started quickly for the Braves as he jumped on an 0-1 fastball from Syndergaard and drove it out to left for an early 1-0 lead. The ball left the bat with an exit velocity of 117.9 mph.

After Freddie Freeman flew out, Ozzie Albies hit his 40th double of the season. Austin Riley followed with a single that scored Albies to make it 2-0.

Charlie Morton got the start for Atlanta in his final tune up before the NLDS. Morton retired the first six batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single to Jose Peraza in the third. Morton struck out Patrick Mazeika and then got Trevor Williams to ground out. He would then give way to Spencer Strider who got Brandon Nimmo to ground out sharply to Albies to strand the runner.

The plan was for Morton to pitch two or three innings and he looked sharp tossing 2 2/3 scoreless while allowing one hit and striking out three.

Atlanta padded its lead in the third. Soler worked a one-out walk and then moved all the way to third on a single by Freeman. Albies then grounded to Pete Alonso at first for the second out. Soler scored on the play to make it 3-0. Riley followed with a double to left to extend the lead to 4-0.

Adam Duvall capped off the inning with an opposite field single that scored Riley to make it 5-0.

Strider pitched around a two-out walk in the fourth. In two appearances, he allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings. We will see if he showed enough to earn a spot on the team’s NLDS roster.

Atlanta’s bullpen continued to throw up zeroes from there. Tyler Matzek allowed a leadoff single but a double play and a strikeout ended his scoreless frame. Luke Jackson sat the side down in order in the sixth.

Chris Martin allowed a single and struck out one over two scoreless innings. Will Smith worked a perfect ninth to close it out.

The Braves win the series and finish 88-73 on the season. Not bad considering that they didn’t climb above the .500 mark until early August.