Ronald Acuña Jr. homers as Braves dump Mets 7-1

Touki Toussaint turned in a good performance and Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his first homer of the season to help the Atlanta Braves push their winning streak to four-straight with a 7-1 win over the New York Mets.

The Braves wasted no time getting Toussaint some runs. Freddie Freeman worked a two-out walk before Marcell Ozuna launched his third home run of the season to put Atlanta in front 2-0.

The Braves went back to work against Michael Wacha in the second. Dansby Swanson got things started with a single. Wacha then struck out Johan Camargo and got Ender Inciarte to fly out. Tyler Flowers then stepped to the plate and put together an eight pitch at-bat before doubling off Michael Conforto’s glove in right to score Swanson and make it 3-0. Acuña followed with a rocket double to left that scored Flowers. Ozzie Albies capped off the scoring with a sand wedge bloop to center that scored Acuña to increase the lead to 5-0.

Toussaint made the most of his opportunity as he stepped into the rotation spot that was previously held by Mike Foltynewicz. He pitched around a single in the first and a hit batter in the second. He issued back-to-back walks in the third but got Pete Alonso to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.

Toussaint would see another stressful inning in the fourth as Conforto and Robinson Cano led off with singles. Toussaint then struck out Cespedes for the first out before walking Dominic Smith to load the bases. He was able to bear down from there striking out Wilson Ramos before getting Amed Rosario to ground out to Camargo at third to end the inning.

Toussaint would exit having allowed three hits and three walks over four scoreless innings. He struck out five while throwing 74 pitches. There were some stressful moments, but he pitched well enough that he should get another opportunity.

The Mets scratched across a run in the fifth as the Luke Jackson experience was in full effect. Brandon Nimmo worked a leadoff walk and then moved up to second on a single by Jeff McNeil. Jackson then got Alonso to chase a slider out of the zone for the first out but then allowed a single to Conforto that loaded the bases. Cano then lined out to Acuña in right for the second out but Nimmo tagged and scored on the play to cut the lead to 5-1. That would be the end of the night for Jackson as Brian Snitker called for Josh Tomlin to face Cespedes who grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.

Atlanta would get that run back in the bottom half of the frame as Swanson reached on a hit by pitch, stole second and then came in to score on a single by Inciarte.

After a quick sixth by Tomlin, Acuña led off the bottom half of the frame with his first home run of the season to push the lead to 7-1.

Tomlin came up big working 2 1/3 hitless innings in relief while striking out three while not throwing a pitch faster than 87 mph. A.J. Minter struck out two in a scoreless eighth while Darren O’Day worked a scoreless ninth to end the game.

The Braves will look to secure a series win on Sunday when Kyle Wright makes his second start of the season. New York will counter with left-hander David Peterson.