Field Level Media
Aug 23, 2023
Charlie Morton pitched seven scoreless innings and Marcell Ozuna continued his torrid hitting with four RBIs to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 7-0 win over the visiting New York Mets on Wednesday in the rubber game of a three-game series.
The Braves won the series' final two games and finished the season 10-3 against the Mets.
Morton (13-10) allowed only two hits -- a pair of doubles by DJ Stewart -- and walked one to extend his streak of scoreless innings to 18. He struck out a season-high 11 batters, his second straight game with double-digit strikeouts. Stewart broke up Morton's no-hit bid with a one-out double in the fifth inning.
Michael Tonkin pitched a scoreless eighth, and Kirby Yates finished with a scoreless ninth to complete Atlanta's 15th shutout, the top total in the majors.
The Atlanta offense was paced by Ozuna, who went 3-for-4 with a double and a two-run homer, his 28th, that put the game away. In the three games against New York, Ozuna hit .727 (8-for-11) with four home runs, seven RBIs, six runs and one walk.
The losing pitcher was Jose Quintana (1-5), who was knocked out after pitching 5 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on nine hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
The Braves scored a run in the first inning when Ozuna singled to drive in Austin Riley. It was the 123rd first-inning run scored by the Braves, only four shy of matching the franchise record set in 1999. No other team has more than 93.
Atlanta broke the game open by scoring four times in the sixth inning. Ozuna drove in a run with his 18th double. Sean Murphy followed with an RBI single to chase Quintana. Phil Bickford entered and allowed a two-out RBI triple to Vaughn Grissom to extend the lead to 7-0.
New York's Francisco Lindor singled in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
--Field Level Media