Chris Sale brilliant, Acuña and Olson homer as Braves beat Mets

Braves have taken the series with a chance to sweep tomorrow.

Chris Sale was brilliant on Wednesday night, coming up an out shy of his first complete game shutout in six years.

Sale kept the Mets quiet and the Braves bats did their job in a 5-0 win on Wednesday night. The reigning Cy Young winner even made this ridiculous diving grab and throw in the 9th inning for the first out.

It only took a pitch for Ronald Acuña Jr. in the first to make his impact on the game, launching a Paul Blackburn fastball right down the pipe over the center field wall to make it 1-0.

The Braves would add on against Blackburn to give Sale some breathing room. After the homer, Verdugo singled, Riley walked, and Matt Olson advanced the runners with a groundout. Then came a very bizarre catcher error where the runners advanced and scored after Luis Torrens used his mask to gather a ball that bounced away. Ozuna followed with a sac fly to make it 3-0.

In the fourth, Ozzie Albies doubled (after tripling earlier in the game) and eventually scored on a wild pitch that got away from Torrens. It was not a great night for New York’s catcher.

The bats went quiet over the middle innings, but Matt Olson crushed one in the seventh to the Chop House to extend the lead to 5-0.

Sale made the start with three extra days of rest and was masterful once again. The veteran lefty diced up New York’s lineup with little resistance, working 8.2 shutout innings. He surrendered just five hits (all singles) and one walk while striking out six over 116 pitches, an astounding 85 of which were strikes. His ERA on the season is down to 2.52. It was Sale’s deepest outing since 2019. He’s as good as it gets, folks.

The series wraps up on Thursday night with Spencer Strider looking to build off his masterful performance against the Rockies over the weekend. All eyes will be on Spencer and if his increased fastball velocity and slider break are here for good. Strider will be opposed by reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes — 2.87 ERA, 3.91 xERA, 3.93 FIP, 3.67 xFIP — who’s enjoying a nice season after coming across the city. First pitch will be at 7:15 p.m. ET.