Chris Sale and a trio of relievers combined on a two-hitter Wednesday night for the visiting Atlanta Braves, who beat the New York Mets 1-0 to earn a split of a doubleheader between the National League East rivals.
Matt Olson snapped the scoreless tie with a run-scoring single in the sixth inning for the Braves, who dropped the opener 3-2. Drake Baldwin had two hits in the nightcap, when Ozzie Albies, Mauricio Dubon, Eli White and Jim Jarvis collected one hit each.
Christian Scott took the hard-luck loss for the Mets, whose three-game winning streak was snapped.
Sale (12-6) won his third straight start and fourth consecutive decision after giving up two hits – singles to Carson Benge and Eric Wagaman – and walking none while striking out nine. He has surrendered one run or fewer 11 times in 20 starts this season.
Didier Fuentes struck out three in a hitless seventh and Dylan Lee threw a perfect eighth before Raisel Iglesias tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the Braves’ sixth shutout of the season. Iglesias threw just eight pitches, all strikes, in recording his 22nd save.
The four pitchers combined to face just three batters over the minimum.
Scott (3-3) allowed the one run on five hits and one walk while striking out seven over a season-high six innings. The right-hander retired 12 straight after Baldwin singled on the first pitch of the game on his way to allowing one run or fewer for the third time in four starts.
A.J. Minter, Cionel Perez and Daniel Duarte combined for three innings of two-hit ball.
Neither pitcher allowed a runner past first base until the Braves broke through against Scott in the sixth. Jarvis, the nine-hole hitter, led off with a double and moved to third on Baldwin’s infield single. Scott struck out Ronald Acuna Jr. before Olson laced an RBI single up the middle.
The Mets never had a runner reach scoring position.
