Michael Harris hitting sixth, Chadwick Tromp behind the plate….

Travis d’Arnaud gets the day off for the Braves after catching the first two games of the series.

The Atlanta Braves will try to make it five-straight wins Sunday when they face the New York Mets on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Bryce Elder will get the start for Atlanta while New York will go with Luis Severino.

Michael Harris had three hits in Saturday’s win and snapped an 0-for-29 stretch at the plate. He moves up into the sixth spot in the lineup. Chadwick Tromp gets the start in place of Travis d’Arnaud and is hitting ninth.

Braves lineup 5/12 at Mets

1. Acuña RF
2. Albies 2B
3. Riley 3B
4. Olson 1B
5. Ozuna DH
6. Harris CF
7. Arcia SS
8. Kelenic LF
9. Tromp C

For the Mets, DJ Stewart starts in place of Brandon Nimmo in left. Nimmo appeared to hurt himself during an at-bat Saturday, but ultimately stayed in the game. Omar Narvaez gets the start behind the plate for New York and will hit ninth.

New York’s J.D. Martinez changed the game in the ninth inning with a home run, breaking Atlanta’s bid for a combined no-hitter by Max Fried and two relievers.

Martinez’s homer, hit to right-center off Raisel Iglesias, came when the Braves were leading 4-0, putting an end to their attempt at a no-hitter.

Fried, the left-handed pitcher, managed five strikeouts and three walks. He held off the first eight batters before giving consecutive walks to Tomas Nido and Brandon Nimmo.

Although Fried retired the next 11 batters, he later walked Pete Alonso with one out in the seventh inning. J.D. Martinez then hit a deep fly to center, caught by Michael Harris II against the wall, followed by a strikeout of Jeff McNeil.

Fried threw a season-high 109 pitches, with 68 being strikes, throughout seven innings of play. In the eighth inning, right-hander Joe Jiménez took over, walking two batters but striking out Tyrone Taylor and Starling Marte.

The last time the Braves threw a no-hitter was on April 8, 1994, when Kent Mercker achieved it against the Los Angeles Dodgers. This no-hitter drought is among the longest in the major leagues.

So far this season, the only no-hitter was thrown by Houston’s Ronel Blanco on April 1 in a 10-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Yes it was only six innings, and yes he took the loss. I don’t care it still counts

Listen, it wasn’t a great Saturday if you like Atlanta Braves minor league baseball. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed by these final scores on an 0-6 day. However we’re still seeing some good stuff, like Jhancarlos Lara making his second start since returning to Rome and Adam Maier continuing his solid season in Augusta.

(18-19) Gwinnett Stripers 2, (15-22) Charlotte Knights 6
Box Score

Statcast

Forrest Wall, LF: 1-5, 3B, RBI, .302/.429/.460
Taylor Widener, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 4.50 ERA
Grant Holmes, RP: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1.47 ERA
It was just one of those days, man. Gwinnett ran out their regular offense save JP Martinez, and the team as a whole just did not hit well. The Stripers offense totaled only four hard hit balls in the game and none of them went for hits. It looked very early like it may be a day to play for the Stripers, as Forrest Wall needed only two pitches before he found one to sneak down the right field line for a leadoff triple. He scored to give Gwinnett the early lead, and Taylor Widener looked solid on the mound.

Widener has been integral to the Stripers as a reliever, putting up 20 strikeouts in 12 1⁄3 innings with only three walks issued. Unfortunately his stuff takes a hit when he is forced to work longer outings, and this was a case of early success that turned around quickly the second time through the order. Charlotte couldn’t find hard contact against Widener early, but the more looks they got the more it swung in their favor and he ended up allowing five runs combined in the fourth and fifth innings.

Grant Holmes on the other hand seemed unperturbed by a multi-inning outing, as he still lit it up with his slider across three innings. Holmes has seemingly found a resurgence in his career since joining the Braves system, stepping up his game in both years with Gwinnett and now looking like a real major league quality reliever. Whether the Braves truly see him as a competent middle relief option is unclear, but he has done nothing but succeed thanks to his slider progressing into a buzzsaw. Should Holmes not find a role with Atlanta this year I would not blame him for looking elsewhere for opportunity, as he certainly has the arsenal of a major league reliever in my opinion.

(11-21) Mississippi Braves 1, (16-15) Rocket City Trash Pandas 6
Box Score

Nacho Alvarez, SS: 0-4, .274/.384/.321
Drake Baldwin, C: 1-4, .233/.304/.291
Keshawn Ogans, 3B: 2-4, 2B, .215/.270/.269
Luis De Avila, SP: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 5.29 ERA
Trey Riley, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 7.20 ERA
Luis De Avila could not find his command in the first inning of the game, and Mississippi never recovered from the four run deficit he put them in. De Avila didn’t have a terrible game after this, he actually pitched quite nicely once he settled in, but the stark drop off in whiffs for him this year have been concerning. De Avila had a career year with Mississippi in 2023, but his strikeout rate has dropped this year from 24% to 16% without a decrease in walk rate. If De Avila gets to the next level it was never really expected for strikeouts to be his game, but if they are going to come at this rate his command just has to be better than it has been.

Also on the pitching end of things Parker Dunshee has been a solid minor league free agent pick up this year, as he has a 46.3% strikeout rate out of the Mississippi bullpen. He struck out seven of the 12 Trash Pandas he faced, primarily working with a low-90’s four seamer and a mid-80’s slider. Dunshee’s nastiest offering a curveball that works in the 77-81 range, though he uses it only sparingly and only against left handed batters.

Twelve strikeouts and no walks isn’t the way you want your offense to perform, and Mississippi couldn’t scratch together rallies despite out-hitting Rocket City. The top of the Braves order did show a little life, with Justin Dean getting two hits in the leadoff spot and Keshawn Ogans getting multiple hits for the second straight day, but the only run Mississippi scored was a solo shot from Geraldo Quintero. Also notable outside of his 0-4 day, Nacho Alvarez left the game after a pop out in the 8th innings. Alvarez didn’t appear to show any visible pain, but after a slow jog down to first he spent a lot of time talking to the first base coach before ultimately not coming out in the field in the bottom of the inning.

(16-14) Rome Emperors 1, (18-14) Brooklyn Cyclones 2
Box Score

Stephen Paolini: 2-4, 2B, RBI, .205/.330/.321
Kevin Kilpatrick Jr., CF: 1-5, .276/.333/.415
EJ Exposito, 2B: 1-4, BB, .284/.359/.630
Jhancarlos Lara, SP: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1.35 ERA
Jhancarlos Lara is made his second start in return from injury, and there are a few takeaways from this game for him. The most important thing is that he is healthy and throwing. Beyond that, his stuff from a shape and velocity perspective was where you want it to be. He forced whiffs with both his fastball and slider, and was able to ramp up to 73 pitches this game. There is clearly a lot of rust with Lara though, as the command has so far stepped back from the end of last season and we will have to take that evaluation game-by-game going forward to see how he improves. Lara has struggled to find consistent form with his lower body, falling off glove side quite often during his delivery, and it seems most of the inconsistency has come from this. These are things that can take time to get a feel for after being limited like Lara has, and he’s landed some nice pitches when he has stayed downhill on line.