NEW YORK (AP) – Jeff McNeil laced his second go-ahead hit in two days Monday night, when his RBI double in the fifth inning sent the New York Mets to a 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves and a doubleheader split.
Kyle Muller threw five sharp innings to earn his second big league victory in the opener, a 2-0 win for the Braves.
Under pandemic rules, each game was shortened to seven innings.
The Mets have split nine of their 11 doubleheaders this season and swept the other two. The loss in the nightcap prevented the third-place Braves (49-51), who have yet to be above .500 this year, from reaching the break-even mark for the seventh time. They are five games behind the NL East-leading Mets.
New York squandered a first-and-third, none-out opportunity in the fourth before scoring its lone run of the day in the fifth. Brandon Nimmo led off with an infield single and scored one out later on the double by McNeil, who was making his first start since Wednesday.