Rookie Spencer Schwellenbach had the best start of his career Saturday afternoon, as the right-hander gave up two hits and struck out 11 over seven innings to lead the struggling Atlanta Braves to a 4-0 win over the host New York Mets in the third game of a four-game series between the National League East rivals.
Marcell Ozuna, Matt Olson and Eddie Rosario homered for the Braves, who snapped a six-game losing streak — their longest since September 2017 — and moved a half-game ahead of the Mets in the race for the top NL wild-card spot.
Orlando Arcia added an RBI single while Adam Duvall had two hits.
Tylor Megill tossed six-plus solid innings in his return from Triple-A Syracuse for the Mets, who had their five-game winning streak halted as they fell to 15-8 this month.
Schwellenbach (4-5), making his 10th career start, allowed a second-inning double to Jeff McNeil and a fourth-inning double to Pete Alonso before retiring the final 10 batters he faced. The seven innings tied a season-high for Schwellenbach while the 11 strikeouts broke his previous best of eight whiffs, set in his previous start Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Joe Jimenez threw a perfect eighth inning. Raisel Iglesias gave up a leadoff single in the ninth to Luis Torrens and a one-out single to Brandon Nimmo before striking out J.D. Martinez and Alonso.
Megill (2-5), appearing for the Mets for the first time since June 29, gave up the four runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four over six-plus innings.
The right-hander retired the first 11 batters he faced before Ozuna and Olson hit back-to-back homers in a five-pitch span. The blast was No. 30 for Ozuna and No. 14 for Olson.
Atlanta’s Sean Murphy drew a walk leading off the fifth and later scored on Arcia’s one-out hit.
Rosario homered to start the seventh before Murphy coaxed another walk to chase Megill. The blast was his 10th of the season.