Bad inning or bad omen? Mets' Jose Quintana tagged for trio of big flies in loss to Braves

NEW YORK — The usually-potent top of the Braves lineup had been starved for power production and Mets left-hander Jose Quintana provided a feast on Friday night.

After working through the opening two innings without allowing a hit, Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson all took Quintana deep in the third inning as the Mets dropped a 4-2 result against the Braves in front of 23,355 fans at Citi Field.

"I think just with two outs, the game changed. I think a couple of mistakes," Quintana said. "I didn’t execute pitches well at that time. A couple of pitches flat. It wasn’t a bad choice, but it was just flat. It’s frustrating because my arm feels great and I was throwing the ball well against a pretty good lineup."

A four-run hole was enough as the Mets only collected three hits, including a solo home run by Francisco Lindor, against the Braves' Charlie Morton. Pete Alonso provided two of the Mets' four total hits in the loss.

The Mets fell to 18-19 as they began a pivotal stretch in the National League East, in which they play three games against the Braves (23-12) and four — two at home and two on the road — against the first-place Phillies (27-12).

Jose Quintana does not execute in bad inning

The Braves' rally came after Quintana had erased a leadoff single by Travis d'Arnaud with a double-play up the middle.

But as the lineup turned over, Quintana's mistakes were magnified.

Acuña, who had hit 41 home runs on his way to National League MVP honors last season, had been limited to two home runs in the first 34 games. Quintana left a belt-high sinker on the outer half, and Acuna ripped it 461 feet to straightaway center.

In the next at-bat, Albies tagged a high fastball that reached the first-row of seats in the left-field corner.

"Execute better. Be more consistent," Quintana said. "Sometimes we miss spots, that’s gonna happen, that’s part of the game. But in some situations, I expect to execute better pitches."

Then, after walking Austin Riley on three straight balls, Olson clubbed a fastball over the heart of the plate into the Mets' bullpen in right-center field for a two-run home run. It was Olson's first home run since the eighth game of the season.

"Albies, I thought it was a decent pitch up and in and just beat him to the spot," Carlos Mendoza said. "Then the one that he wishes he had back is the one to Olson where he’s trying to go down and away and he misses middle in. Other than that, gave us five, but yeah, that inning obviously cost us."

Where does Jose Quintana need to improve?

It was the first time that Quintana has given up three home runs in a game since June 12, 2022, against the Braves when he was a member of the Pirates, and the first time in his 13-year career that he has given up a trio of long balls in a single inning.

It was a tough frame for Quintana, who only allowed two hits and one walk across his other four innings. Quintana called it frustrating as he dropped to 1-4 on the season despite feeling effective aside from that one four-batter stretch.

"I think it’s more like executing pitches," Quintana said. "I don’t believe that it’s the choice. It’s more the location. I want to work on the location and be better on that."

With a combined 12 earned runs in his last two starts, Quintana's ERA has ballooned from 3.48 to 5.44.

In Quintana's previous outing against the Rays when he gave up eight earned runs on 10 hits over 2⅔ innings, the left-hander had some tough luck with base-hits that found some holes. But on Friday night, the hard contact told a different tale.

Mendoza still believed that Quintana was pitching with more conviction in his start on Friday night.

"I’m not concerned," Mendoza said. "Again, got to limit those long innings and those hard contact, but I thought the stuff was there today. I thought the fastball had life. The pitch to Olson was the one that pretty much cost him today. Other than that, I thought he kept making pitches, but I’m not worried about him."

Adrian Houser in relief

After moving Adrian Houser to the bullpen in favor of rookie Christian Scott last weekend, the Mets manager had been hoping to get the veteran out of the bullpen during the team's series finale with the Cardinals on Wednesday.

Midwest storms but a hamper on those plans.

Houser finally got in the game against the Braves, pitching the eighth and ninth innings, and looked a bit more effective as he tried to sort through his command trouble. The right-hander tossed two scoreless innings with two walks and no hits allowed while inducing four ground balls and stranding a pair of runners in scoring position.

It was a promising sign for Houser, who had given up 18 earned runs across his previous three starts.

"I thought he was good," Mendoza said. "Thought he worked out of trouble with the walk there. I thought the life on his sinker, the breaking ball, the good changeup that he threw, I thought he did a good job."

The Mets have yet to decide whether they will go forward with a five- or six-man rotation, which Houser could potentially factor into with better results. For now, Houser will be down for a few days after throwing 32 pitches on Friday.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Jose Quintana done in by loud Braves inning in loss