Morton earns 100th win, Stroman hurt as Braves blank Mets
Jun 22, 2021, 8:15 AM | Updated: 9:13 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Charlie Morton struck out 11 in seven innings of one-hit ball for his 100th major league win, and the Atlanta Braves beat the banged-up Mets 3-0 on Tuesday night for their second consecutive shutout against New York.
Mets starter Marcus Stroman exited in the second inning with a sore left hip, the latest blow to a depleted team decimated by pitching injuries lately.
Dansby Swanson hit a three-run homer in the third for the Braves, who have won two of three in the four-game series.
The punchless Mets managed only two hits — an infield single by pinch-hitting pitcher Jerad Eickhoff in the fifth and a two-out double by James McCann in the ninth.
Stroman, who lasted at least six innings in each of his previous eight starts, walked one in a hitless first but left after throwing just three pitches to Austin Riley in the second.
Morton (7-3) became the 19th active pitcher to reach 100 wins and the 630th to do so in big league history. He hit the milestone 13 years, 8 days days after getting his first career win for the Braves.
In between stints with Atlanta, the veteran right-hander notched 89 wins for Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Houston and Tampa Bay.
The 37-year-old Morton, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of his previous start against St. Louis, held the Mets hitless until Eickhoff reached with two outs in the fifth.
Eickhoff was the Mets’ starting pitcher in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader. The hit was his first since Aug. 25, 2017.
Morton walked two and plunked a pair of batters.
A.J. Minter tossed a perfect eighth and Will Smith worked the ninth for his 15th save.
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