Braves salvage playoff berth with 3-0 win over the Mets, who win thrilling opener 8-7 to clinch

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves bounced back from a stunning loss in the first game of a makeup doubleheader, claiming the last postseason berth with a 3-0 win over the Mets in the nightcap Monday after New York clinched a playoffs trip with an 8-7 victory in the opener.

With three teams in contention for the last two playoff spots in the National League, the Braves faced the Mets in a twin bill squeezed between the scheduled end to the regular season and the start of the Wild Card Series.

The defending NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks could only watch from afar and were eliminated as NL East rivals made up a pair of games rained out last week as Hurricane Helene wreaked destruction in the southeastern U.S.

The Diamondbacks needed one team to sweep, so they were pulling for the Mets after they locked up their postseason spot by overcoming a 3-0 deficits of 3-0 in the eighth inning and 7-6 in the ninth to win the opener, going ahead for good on Francisco Lindor's two-run homer.

Grant Holmes, stepping in after Braves ace Chris Sale was scratched because of back spasms, pitched four scoreless innings in the second game and Marcell Ozuna gave the Braves some breathing room with a two-run single in the seventh.

Both clubhouses at Truist Park erupted in champagne-spraying celebrations.

With their postseason berth locked up, the Mets added left-hander Joey Lucchesi to the roster to start the second game. The 31-year-old left-hander spent most of the season at Triple-A Syracuse, giving up five runs in 4 1/3 innings in his lone big league appearance before Monday,

He was a totally different pitcher against the Braves, who might’ve still been a bit shellshocked after the way they lost the opener. Lucchesi (0-2) allowed just three hits, including a run-scoring single to Gio Urshela, in a six-inning, 111-pitch outing.

Daybel Hernandez (3-0) earned the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his 34th save in 37 chances.

The Mets could breathe easy after Lindor’s 33rd homer.

New York erased a 3-0 deficit with a six-run eighth, capped by Brandon Nimmo’s two-run homer. The Braves surged back ahead with four runs in the bottom half, as Ozzie Albies delivered a bases-loaded double with two outs for a 7-6 lead.

The Mets weren’t finished. Starling Marte singled with one out off Pierce Johnson (7-5) and Lindor delivered a drive into the Braves bullpen in right-center.

“I got the pitch that I wanted and you never know if the ball is gonna go out or not,” Lindor said. “But I feel like I got it 100 percent and all I kept saying was, ‘Thank you Jesus.’ We’re one step closer, we got to finish it. Finish, finish, finish, finish.”

Edwin Díaz (6-4) earned the win with a season high 40 pitches despite giving up Albies’ go-ahead hit, which came after the Mets closer failed to cover first on a play that allowed Jarred Kelenic to reach on a two-out infield hit.

Díaz demanded to return to the mound for the ninth.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m going back out,” he recalled telling manager Carlos Mendoza.

The Braves had the potential tying run at second in the ninth, but Díaz struck out Ramón Laureano and retired Travis d’Arnaud on a grounder to shortstop.

New York had lost 77 straight games when trailing by three runs in eighth inning or later since May 17, 2023. Díaz slammed his glove to the ground and the Mets celebrated briefly behind the mound after becoming their 11th postseason berth in 63 seasons, and the first since 2022.

“Have you ever seen a game like that?” Mets owner Steve Cohen posted on X.

Albies, a switch-hitter who can only bat right-handed while dealing with lingering pain from a wrist injury, hit a two-run homer in the third and a bases-clearing double off the base of the wall in the eighth. Laureano also homered for the Braves.

After managing just three singles through the first seven innings against rookie Spencer Schwellenbach, the Mets offense came to life in the eighth.

Schwellenbach was lifted after Tyrone Taylor’s leadoff double. Joe Jiménez didn’t retire anyone, giving up three straight hits that pulled the Mets to 3-2.

Atlanta then turned to closer Raisel Iglesias, but he gave up a tying single to Jose Iglesias, a sacrifice fly to Mark Vientos and Nimmo’s 23rd homer into the right-field seats.

SALE’S STATUS

Atlanta had been holding back Sale since his scheduled start last week was rained out, saying they wanted to use him in an elimination game.

But he wasn’t able to pitch because of back spasms, which Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos insisted only cropped up after a throwing session Sunday.

“It’s not an IL thing,” Braves general manager Alex Tnthopoulos said. “It’s a day-to-day thing. If we could have him pitch and it was safe to do that, we would. Regardless, we need him with where we want to go.”

UP NEXT

Mets: Heads back to Milwaukee, where they just played a weekend series, for the best-of-three Wild Card Series that begins Tuesday.

Braves: Were to fly to San Diego for their Wild Card Series starting Tuesday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Atlanta Braves' Travis d'Arnaud, left, Orlando Arcia, center, and Ramón Laureano, right, celebrate after scoring in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets owner, Steve Cohen, right, high fives Luisangel Acuña in the dugout after winning the game in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets pitcher Edwin Díaz, center, celebrates with teammates after winning the game in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor, left, and Starling Marte, center, celebrate at home plate after scoring in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies throws out New York Mets' Jose Iglesias at first base in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets second baseman Jose Iglesias, right, tags second base and throws to first before Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies, left, can slide into the bag in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves' Ramon Laureano, center, celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run to centerfield in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves' Marcell Ozuna waits for the pitch in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets pitcher Huascar Brazoban throws in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves' Ramon Laureano, behind, celebrates with Atlanta Braves Orlando Arcia, front, in the dugout after hitting a solo home run to centerfield in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves' Ramon Laureano hits a home run to center field in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor prepares to swing in the third inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets fans await their turn to get autographs before the start of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Bally reporter, Hanna Yates, broadcasts her pregame with fans standing behind her waiting for autographs before the start of a baseball game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets pitcher Tylor Megill throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies, left, gestures to the crowd while stepping on home plate after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets' Tyrone Taylor steal second base before Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies, top, can tag him in the third inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, right, poses with a fan for a photo before the start of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves fans await for the start of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies prepares to tag third base after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Tuesday said it had begun a “limited, localized” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, opening a new front in its war against the Lebanese militant group.

In a brief announcement, it said it was striking Hezbollah targets in areas close to the Israeli border, and that air force and artillery units were carrying out attacks to support the ground forces. It gave no details on how long the operation would last, but said the army had been training and preparing for months.

“A few hours ago, the IDF began limited, localized and targeted ground raids," it said. “These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”

The incursion came shortly after it was approved by Israeli political leaders and marked a new stage in Israel's war against Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group.

Earlier, U.S. officials said Israel had launched small ground raids against Hezbollah and sealed off communities along its northern border on Monday as Israeli artillery pounded southern Lebanon.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel informed the U.S. about the raids, which he said were described as “limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.”

The sounds of airstrikes were heard throughout Beirut and smoke rose from the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after Israel ordered residents of three buildings to evacuate.

There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, who last engaged in ground combat on Lebanese soil during a monthlong war in 2006.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began, displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for families to return to their homes near the Lebanon border. Hezbollah has promised to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

Hezbollah vowed Monday to keep fighting even after its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top officials were recently wiped out by Israeli strikes.

The group's acting leader, Naim Kassem, said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah is ready. He said commanders killed in recent weeks have already been replaced.

The man widely expected to take over the top post from Kassem is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollah’s political affairs.

Shortly before the Israeli invasion, the army declared three northern communities near the Lebanese border to be “closed military zones,” indicating that the ground operation was imminent.

The army has heavily beefed up forces along the border in recent days, and commanders have said they are prepared to go into Lebanon if ordered to.

Chris Coyle, a resident of northern Israel, said the army had erected gates and checkpoints throughout the region and positioned scores of tanks along the border in recent days. “They’re certainly getting ready to go in,” he said.

In the nearby Golan Heights, an Associated Press reporter heard Israeli artillery fire and explosions in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces also fired flares into Lebanon.

An AP reporter in the southern Lebanon town of Marjayoun reported sounds of heavy shelling and explosions and occasional airstrikes coming from areas closer to the border.

Israeli strikes in recent weeks have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry.

Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds.

Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19.

But Hezbollah’s capabilities remain unclear.

As recently as two weeks ago, a strike like Monday's in central Beirut — outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub normally crowded with buses and taxis — would have been seen as a major escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel.

But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict no longer seem to be in effect.

It's possible Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels.

Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats’ relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out.

Monday's strike in Beirut killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has not claimed the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out.

Also Monday, Hamas announced its top commander in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif, was killed with his family in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted him.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war in the Palestinian territory.

Israel responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year. The Lebanese government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people, although the U.N. estimate is around 200,000.

The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe.

France, which has close ties to Lebanon, has joined the United States in calling for a cease-fire. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, visiting Beirut Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive.

Barrot also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group “bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented.

Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel.

But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 — including many fighters but also many civilians.

Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Sam McNeil in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights; Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Geir Moulson in Berlin; and Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed reporting.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, in a position near the Israel-Lebanon border, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit is seen near the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, in a position near the Israel-Lebanon border, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli tank manoeuvres in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Damaged cars are parked in front of a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Lebanese policeman looks at damaged apartments that were hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damaged apartments, right, are seen in a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Two women take a selfie next to a newly painted graffiti of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a day after Hezbollah confirms its leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the site of an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A photographer documents damage in a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Policemen and civil defense workers stand next to damaged cars near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Policemen and civil defense workers inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A firefighter inspects a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)