Maybe they should've given the bullpens the night off (Mets @ Braves, 7/1/21)

They could've faced each other 10 days earlier, and it'd have been, in hindsight, the same thing, but perhaps even better.

Instead, Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker thought it might be best to have Ian Anderson pitch the 2nd game of a doubleheader vs. the Mets at Citi Field. That strategy worked, as the teams split the two games, and there would be another day for Anderson, the 2nd year pitcher, technically still a rookie, from Shenendehowa, to face 2-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. Indeed, it was assumed Anderson would not see the Mets this week at Truist Park, and was originally going to face Miami tonight.

But after the Braves scored three touchdowns and two extra points in a 20-2 blowout on Wednesday, Snitker had other ideas, and moved Anderson up, giving fans the matchup they wanted a week and a half earlier after all.

New York struck first for a run in the top of the first, as Michael Conforto drove in Francisco Lindor with a base knock to center. However, Atlanta answered back vs. deGrom in the home first. Snitker and the Braves coaches had studied their game tape from last week, and made the adjustments. After Ozzie Albies tied the game with a base hit, Austin "Bus" Riley went oppo taco on deGrom with a 2 run homer to right, and the Braves led, 3-1, after one inning.

It stayed that way until the seventh inning, when Dominic Smith took Anderson out of the yard to trim the deficit to 3-2. 

Anderson & deGrom both went seven. Anderson lowered his season ERA to 3.35, giving up the two earned runs, while fanning just two, and walking two. DeGrom saw his already ridiculous ERA balloon, if you will, to 0.95, as he righted the ship, giving up just the three runs in the first, and striking out fourteen. Now, it would come down to the bullpens.

In the visiting ninth, Atlanta closer Will Smith, who will never be confused with the Dodgers' catcher of the same name, or the rapper-actor also known as the Fresh Prince, might have felt like he went through a sparring session with Mike Tyson after Dominic Smith struck again to tie the game. For Will Smith, it was his second blown save of the season.

However, in the bottom of the ninth, Mets reliever Seth Lugo dug himself a hole he and the team could not get out of. Lugo committed an error to start the inning, and ended up loading the bases with two out. Freddie Freeman, named to the All-Star team earlier in the day, and already with a golden sombrero (four strikeouts), singled through a drawn-in infield to win the game for Atlanta, 4-3.

Check the video:

Neither Anderson nor deGrom factored into the final decision, but this was a night where they should've gone old school and let them finish the game. They'll meet again. Count on it.