The way this team has played, it was only a matter of time.
The writing has been on the wall for a while, but now it's official: the Braves are officially eliminated from playoff contention with a 10-2 loss to the Mets.
Jacob deGrom struck out seven of Atlanta's first nine hitters and finished with 10 strikeouts in six innings. He was given a big lead early, first with Daniel Murphy's RBI groundout in the opening inning; following a pair of hits, a sacrifice fly in the second inning by Ruben Tejada opened the Mets lead to 2-0. In that second inning, Ervin Santana struck out Kirk Nieuwenhuis for his 1,500th strikeout.
Let's fast forward to the fourth inning where the Mets plated three more runs. After Curtis Granderson walked and Kirk Nieuwenhuis doubled, a passed ball allowed the first run of the inning. Anthony Recker's sacrifice fly added another run and Ruben Tejada capped the inning with a home run. The score was 5-0 Mets after four innings.
The Braves looked like they tried to come back in the fifth against deGrom. After a pair of hits to start the inning, an error by Tejada on Andrelton Simmons' grounder put the Braves on the board. A walk to B.J. Upton loaded the bases and with two outs, Emilio Bonifacio walked to force in a run, but the rally died there while the Mets piled on.
Santana left after allowing five runs on six hits in five innings. In the sixth, Juan Jaime gave up a walk and a single; Christian Bethancourt bobbled a bunt attempt by deGrom with Recker at third, allowing another run.
Gus Schlosser entered in the eighth and wasn't any better. He gave up a pair of hits in the inning and allowed a run on an errant pickoff throw to first. He continued into the ninth and gave up four straight one-out hits for three more runs.
The Braves had a grand total of four hits; Chris Johnson had two of them. Phil Gosselin struck out four times.
Win Expectancy