Mets takeaways from Saturday’s 21-3 Game 1 loss to Braves, including another lifeless effort

The Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves 21-3 in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Citi Field.

Here are some takeaways…

– Making just his third big-league start, Denyi Reyes struggled this afternoon for the Mets. After a Ronald Acuna Jr lead-off single and stolen base, Austin Riley brought him home for the first run of the game.

The Braves added another in the second on a two-out double from the recently acquired shortstop Nicky Lopez. Reyes put up his first zero of the afternoon in the third but things began to cave in on him an inning later.

Atlanta struck for three more runs in the fourth on run scoring singles from Lopez and Ozzie Albies, increasing the lead to 5-0. He was able to retire the next two batters, and then got the first two outs of the fifth, before his day came to an end.

Reed Garrett entered in his place with two on and two out and was able to get out of the inning.

Making the spot start in the doubleheader, Reyes allowed five runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out three over just four innings. He threw a total of 92 pitches, 56 of which were strikes.

– Garrett went on to 2.1 innings in relief and he struggled mightily. He allowed six runs on four hits (two homers) while walking two and striking out three. Josh Walker also allowed a pair of homers in his lone inning of work.

– With the score out of hand late, Buck Showalter turned to infielder Danny Mendick to close out the game. Things went about as expected, as he allowed eight runs over just 1.1 innings of work.

– The Mets offense was lifeless yet again this afternoon. They were held hitless by Braves starter Allan Winans until Daniel Vogelbach lined an opposite field single with one out in the fourth, snapping an 0-for-14 stretch.

– Vogelbach added a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to get New York on the board. After striking out four times last night, he enjoyed a nice two-hit afternoon.

– Jeff McNeil and Omar Narvaez were the only other Mets to show up on the offensive side of things. They both had two hits as well, but other than that, everyone else went hitless.

Highlights

What’s next

It’s a quick turnaround for these teams as the Mets and Braves face-off in Game 2 of today’s doubleheader at 7:10 p.m. at Citi Field.

Left-hander Jose Quintana (0-3, 3.42 ERA) will make the start for New York against Atlanta’s ace right-hander Spencer Strider (12-4, 3.94 ERA).