The Warren Report: Case Closed in Queens in Mets 4-0 Win Over Braves

Mets 4 Braves 0 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 48-34

Mets Streak: W2

Mets Last 10: 3-7

WP: Austin Warren (1-0)

LP: Grant Holmes (4-7)

Seat On The Korner: AUSTIN WARREN

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

On the very day he was recalled, Austin Warren was pressed into emergency duty—and delivered in a big way. When Mets starter Griffin Canning went down suddenly with what looked like an Achilles injury. Warren was summoned from the bullpen with two outs in the third. The 28-year-old righty, who began the year in Triple-A and has bounced between teams like a well-traveled suitcase, came in and spun 2.1 innings of one-hit, no-run baseball. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out two, keeping the potent Braves lineup at bay just long enough for the Mets' bats to kick in.

It’s another chapter in the journeyman tale of Warren, who’s never lost a big-league game—he now sports a sparkling 7–0 career record with a 2.94 ERA. From a two-way player at Wake Tech to a Colonial Athletic Association champion at UNC Wilmington, from a 6th-round Angels draft pick to Tommy John surgery and a brief stop in San Francisco, Warren's path to Queens was anything but straight. But on this night, he looked right at home in a Mets road uniform.

So we’re proud to hand him the Seat on the Korner, our tribute to Ralph Kiner’s postgame tradition on WOR Channel 9. As parting gifts, Ralph is pleased to give Warren a vintage ’80s-era Members Only jacket, a Yoo-hoo, and some Getty gas gift cards—because if you're going to ride the shuttle between Triple-A and the bigs, you might as well do it in style.

Need To Know:

• This was game 82 of the 162-game regular season, marking the numerical start of the second half of the season .

• Prior to the game the Mets made the following roster moves: RHP Austin Warren has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. RHP Jonathan Pintaro was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse following last night's game. Those moves would prove to pay huge dividends.

• The Mets wore their away Jerseys at home tonight.

• Griffin Canning left in the third inning what appeared to be an achilles injury. During the game the Mets announced that it was a left ankle injury. He will undergo imaging. In the post game Manager Carlos Mendoza said he feels it's an achilles.

  
  

• Griffin Canning has made ten starts vs. NL opponents this season , he owns a 6-0 record, 2.59 ERA (14 ER/48.2 IP) The Mets are 9-1 in games Canning starts against NL opponents.

• Prior to tonight Grant Holmes made just one career start versus New York in his career, pitching the final game of last season in a game Atlanta had to win to clinch a spot in the postseason.The right-hander tossed 4.0 scoreless innings and fanned seven that night, and the Braves won, 3-0, to earn the final playoff berth in the National League.

• Nineteen of the 37 runs allowed by Grant Holmes this season have come by way of a homer.

• The Braves have won 28 of the last 40 games with New York dating to the 2022 season, outscoring the Mets 230-153 (+77) over the stretch.

• Atlanta is 81-63 all-time at Citi Field since it opened in 2009...The Braves’ 81 wins here are the most by any visiting team in stadium history,

• Matt Olson singled in his last at bat, extending his career-best on-base streak to 27 games dating to May 29...It is the longest active on-base run in the majors.

• In 84 career games against the Braves, Juan Soto has a .322 (86-267) slash line with 23 home runs, 12 doubles, two triples, 56 RBI, 85 walks and 67 runs. His 23 home runs against Atlanta are his most against any opponent .

• In 23 games this month, Pete Alonso is batting .281 (28-

  93) with 15 runs, five doubles, seven homers, 23 RBI, seven walks .His 22 RBI this month are the third-most in the NL.

• The win moves the Mets back to first place.

  
  

Turning Point:

With the Mets clinging to a 2-0 lead and recent late-inning meltdowns—especially against the Braves—still fresh in everyone’s mind, the bottom of the seventh proved to be the turning point. After Francisco Lindor grounded out and Brandon Nimmo struck out, it looked like another promising inning might stall. But Juan Soto jumpstarted the rally with a sharp single to right, and Pete Alonso followed by roping his 23rd double of the season, sending Soto to third. Jeff McNeil then delivered the biggest swing of the night—a clutch two-out, two-run single to center that gave the Mets a 4-0 cushion and some much-needed breathing room. Travis Jankowski came in to pinch-run after McNeil’s heroics, and although the inning ended with a groundout, the damage was done. Those two insurance runs turned a tense game into a manageable one, allowing the bullpen’s 6.1 innings of brilliant, scoreless relief to hold up and seal the win. In a stretch where holding leads has been an adventure, this inning was a welcome return to execution—and exhalation.

Three Keys:

Perfect Pen

With Griffin Canning forced to leave the game in the third inning due to injury, the Mets bullpen was thrust into unexpected duty—and responded with a masterclass in run prevention. Canning had started strong, tossing 2.2 innings of one-hit, scoreless ball with three strikeouts before exiting with what was later announced as a left ankle injury. From there, it was bullpen by committee, and the committee delivered: Austin Warren (W, 1-0) followed with 2.1 innings of one-hit, no-run relief with two strikeouts in his Mets debut. Dedneil Núñez earned his second hold of the season, striking out four over two perfect innings. Ryne Stanek kept the line moving with a clean eighth, striking out one. And Edwin Díaz, continuing his strong rebound season, locked down the ninth with a strikeout, giving up just one harmless single to seal the win. Altogether, Mets relievers combined for 6.1 shutout innings, allowing only two hits and striking out eight. Remarkably, this was just the third time in Mets history that the bullpen held an opponent scoreless after the starter failed to complete the third inning. It was a night that began with concern and ended with a statement—the bullpen has the Mets’ back

5 FOR FIGHTING

The top five batters in the Mets lineup were the driving force behind the team’s offense tonight, combining to go 7-for-18 at the plate—a .389 batting average—and accounting for every run the Mets scored in the game. They crossed the plate for all four Mets runs and knocked in three of them, including a pair of clutch two-out RBIs that helped swing the momentum. At the center of the offensive charge was Pete Alonso, who looked locked in from the first pitch. The slugger went 3-for-4, including a ringing double and a crucial two-out RBI that gave the Mets a much-needed cushion. When the heart of the order is producing like this, the Mets become a very tough team to beat.

STOP THE BLEEDING

Given how the month of June began—with road wins in L.A., Denver, and a sweep of the Nationals—the Mets looked like a team poised to separate from the pack. But then came a harsh reality check: a three-game sweep at the hands of the Rays, followed by five losses in six games to division rivals Atlanta and Philadelphia. As the struggles mounted, so did the urgency. That’s what made tonight’s win so critical. After dropping the first two games of this series to the Braves and slipping to 46–34, the Mets responded with back-to-back wins to salvage the set and keep alive their hopes of salvaging a .500 month. With a three-game set against the Pirates looming this weekend, a strong finish could erase the sting of the mid-June slump and restore momentum heading into July. This wasn’t just a win—it was a stabilizer, a reminder that when the Mets pitch, hit, and execute, they can still compete with anyone. June has been a roller coaster, but thanks to tonight, it might not fly off the rails.

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