Field Level Media
Jul 28, 2021
Brandon Drury hit his third pinch-hit home run of the season to give the New York Mets a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.
Drury connected on the first pitch he saw from Max Fried in the seventh inning and drilled a solo shot into the left field seats, snapping a 1-1 tie. It continued Drury's hot streak: Over his past four games, he is 6-for-6 with two doubles, two homers, three RBIs and four runs.
The NL East rivals have split the first four games of the series.
New York starter Tylor Megill, celebrating his 26th birthday, worked 5 1/3 innings but was removed after Austin Riley tagged him for a solo home run. The run ended Megill's scoreless streak at 18 innings. He allowed one run on five hits and one walk with six strikeouts. Megill also helped himself with a base hit and scored a run.
In his first seven career starts, Megill has a 2.04 ERA, bettered in Mets history only by Nolan Ryan at 1.91.
The winning pitcher was Trevor May (4-2), but Jeurys Familia came up big when he got the final two outs in the eighth after entering the game with runners on second and third.
Closer Edwin Diaz survived a shaky ninth to earn his 23rd save. He gave up a leadoff double to Abraham Almonte, who was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Michael Conforto on Ehire Adrianza's single. Diaz retired pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval on a liner to left field to end the game.
Fried (7-7) allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts in seven innings. He also picked off his fifth runner of the season.
The Mets scored their first run in the third on Jeff McNeil's single to left with the bases loaded, scoring Megill. McNeil extended his hitting streak to 15 games and improved his success against Fried to 7-for-19 (.368).
Riley's game-tying homer was his 20th long ball of the season and sixth this year against the Mets. However, the slugging third baseman struck out with two runners in scoring position in the eighth inning.
--Field Level Media