ATLANTA — Tyler Mahle pitched six strong innings and fellow trade deadline acquisition Lane Thomas homered in the Atlanta Braves’ 6-3 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night at Truist Park, sealing a series victory in a three-game set between the teams at the top and the bottom of the National League East Division standings.
The Braves, who followed up their 4-0 win a night earlier after losing the opener 6-3 on Monday, improved to 73-48 overall this season and boosted their division lead to 9 1/2 games over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies. The fifth-place Mets (53-69) are now 20 1/2 games behind Atlanta.
Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Riley hit back-to-back homers during a three-run seventh inning for the Braves, who are 60-25 this season when hitting at least one home run. Riley was 3-for-4 and scored twice, Ronald Acuña Jr. had two hits, an RBI and two runs, and Drake Baldwin had three singles and drove in a run.
Mahle (4-9) picked up his first win in his second start since being traded by the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 2, the day before the deadline for the 2026 season. He gave up one run on four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts. His lone blemish came on a home run from Luis Torrens.
In two appearances with the Braves, Mahle has given up one run in 12 innings. Mets rookie Zac Thornton (3-3) allowed three runs in six innings pitched in the eighth start of his MLB career.
The home run by Thomas was his first since he was traded to Atlanta from the Kansas City Royals, and it gave the Braves a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. homered in the seventh off Dylan Dodd to cut the Braves’ lead to 3-2. Atlanta reliever Dylan Lee pitched a scoreless eighth and closer Raisel Iglesias gave up a solo home run to Bo Bichette in the ninth.
Mets rookie Carson Benge was 2-for-4 and extended his on-base streak to 16 games.
The Braves are off Thursday before continuing their homestand with a three-game series against the NL West’s Arizona Diamondbacks. The scheduled starting pitchers for Friday’s opener are Atlanta left-hander Chris Sale (12-7, 2.20 ERA) and Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (6-1, 3.36).