Robinson Canó recorded a pair of hits on Monday night in his Atlanta Braves debut as part of a 4-1 loss (box score) against his former team, the New York Mets. He received the start at second base and batted ninth in the Atlanta order.
Canó notched the Braves' first hit of the evening against Max Scherzer in the bottom of the third, when he hit a grounder to the right side that just evaded fellow second baseman Luis Guillorme. Later, in the eighth, Canó hit another ground-ball single off reliever Adam Ottavino. This time, the ball was hit closer to the second-base bag.
Here's a look at both knocks:
Canó is on his third team of the season. He opened the year with the Mets but was released after struggling in 12 games. He then signed with the San Diego Padres, appeared in another 12 games, and was released after he rejected an optional assignment. The Padres re-signed Canó, and subsequently traded him to the Braves on Sunday for cash considerations. He entered Monday having hit .149/.182/.189 in 77 trips to the plate. Those numbers will look better come Tuesday.
Canó's new teammates didn't fare nearly as well against the Mets pitching staff. Scherzer held Atlanta to one run on three hits (an Austin Riley solo home run) across seven innings while punching out nine batters and walking none. Offensively, the Mets were paced by the aforementioned Guillorme (who homered) and Pete Alonso, both of whom plated a pair of runs on the evening.
Braves starter Max Fried was uncharacteristically wild. He walked five batters in five innings, throwing just 55 of his 99 pitches for strikes.
The Mets came into play with a 1 ½-game lead over the Braves in the National League East. That marked the first time anyone had been within two games of the Mets in the division race since April 30.
