Veteran left-hander Martin Perez threw six scoreless innings while Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson homered to help the Atlanta Braves defeat the visiting New York Mets 4-0 on Tuesday to even their three-game series.
Perez (8-6) did not allow a hit until Carson Benge reached on an infield single with one out in the fourth inning. He gave up four hits and three walks, struck out two and extended his streak of scoreless innings to 18 dating back to July 27.
The Atlanta bullpen closed the door. Didier Fuentes pitched a perfect seventh, Dylan Lee followed with a 1-2-3 eighth and Raisel Iglesias worked a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.
Nolan McLean (8-8) allowed just one run and one hit over six innings, but took the loss. McLean, who fanned three and walked two, took a no-hitter into the fifth until Albies hit a two-strike fastball into the right field seats for his 20th home run.
The Mets threatened in the sixth when they had runners on the corners with one out, but Perez enticed Benge to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Atlanta added an insurance run in the seventh against demonstrative reliever Jefry Yan, who was lifted after walking three batters and allowing a run on Mauricio Dubon’s sacrifice fly. Chayce McDermott entered with two outs and threw a wild pitch, but got out of the inning without further damage as center fielder Luis Robert Jr. chased down Austin Riley’s long drive before bumping into the wall.
The Braves put it away in the eighth when Olson crushed a 423-foot homer to right field off McDermott. The homer, Olson’s 35th, moved him into a tie for the major league lead with Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber and Houston’s Yordan Alvarez.
New York leads the season series 7-5. The National League East rivals will face each other for the final time on Wednesday.
