Mets 8, Braves 5: Baty's First Career Grand Slam Holds Up in Atlanta

August 10, 2026 - Atlanta - Brett Baty had never hit a grand slam in the majors. He picked Truist Park, first inning, Bryce Elder on the mound, and a Mets road trip that already felt like a different season than the one New York spent losing in April.

The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 8-5, snapped Atlanta's nine-game home winning streak, and won for the sixth time in seven games. Baty's slam was the first punch. Francisco Lindor spent the rest of the night making sure Atlanta never forgot who started it.

Five in the first, and Elder never recovered

Elder's last three starts had been a different pitcher: one run each time, the kind of stretch that makes a clubhouse believe the rotation is fixed. Monday ended a run of 18 straight games in which Atlanta starters allowed three runs or fewer. Five innings, seven earned, 10 hits, two homers. The slam was the loudest of those 10 hits. It was not the only one.

New York scored five in the first. Baty's grand slam sat in the middle of that inning like a brick through a window. Lindor went 3-for-5 with a 420-foot homer, a double, and three runs. Jared Young had two hits and two RBI. Bo Bichette drove one in and scored one. Twelve Mets hits, 20 total bases, and a 7-2 lead after three innings that should have been enough to exhale.

Atlanta did not exhale. The Braves scored two in the first of their own, two more in the fourth, and one in the fifth. Mauricio Dubón laced a two-run single. Truist Park had it 7-5 and making noise. New York had 12 hits and no errors. Atlanta had nine hits and left 10 men on. That is the part of a Mets-Braves game that used to swallow New York whole: traffic, a loud building, a lead that keeps shrinking. Monday, the bullpen did not let it become another one of those.

Duarte, then Senga, because Williams is on the IL

Devin Williams went on the 15-day injured list earlier in the day. That sentence used to mean a Mets late inning was about to become a problem. Daniel Duarte threw two hitless innings and picked up the win. Kodai Senga, usually the man who starts these games, threw a scoreless ninth for the first save of his career. One hitless inning, two strikeouts, one walk. First career save. The rotation arm closing because the closer is on the IL is not a long-term plan. On Monday it was enough.

Brent Suter cleaned up three innings for Atlanta after Elder left (one hit, three strikeouts, no runs). That is a useful outing in a loss. It is also a reminder that the Braves' night was decided before the sixth, when the starter who had been so careful for three turns handed New York a five-run first and a 10-hit evening.

The Mets added a run in the ninth to make it 8-5. Insurance. The kind you buy after you have already spent the afternoon watching a 7-5 lead and remembering every blown save from June.

Six of seven on the road, and Atlanta's streak is gone

New York is 53-67 and 7-4 against the Braves this year. Those two sentences should not live in the same paragraph, and yet here we are. Six wins in seven on a nine-game trip is how a last-place club stops being a punchline for a week. Atlanta is 71-48 and still the class of the East. A home winning streak of nine ending against the Mets is a speed bump, not a crisis, unless Elder’s next two starts look like this one.

I am not crowning the Mets because Baty finally got a slam. I am interested in whether Lindor’s 3-for-5 nights are arriving in bunches again, and whether Senga-as-closer is a one-night patch or a week of improvisation while Williams sits. For Atlanta, three careful starts and then a seven-run night is the version of Elder nobody wanted back.

AthX Engine angle

New York finished with 14 AthX Engine team fantasy points, fourth on the Monday board. Lindor led the Mets' bats at 11 hitting fantasy points. Baty's slam was worth 10. Senga's first save checked in at 9 pitching fantasy points. Atlanta landed at 1 team fantasy point, which is what a five-run first and a ruined starter's line will do even when you claw back to 7-5.

Track Baty, Lindor, and the Mets on the marketplace. AthX Engine scores the night. Price is a different market.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday final, ESPN recap, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 10, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*