ATLANTA — For one inning Tuesday night, the Mets resembled a team with a competent, dangerous lineup.
The rest of the game was a disaster on offense, marred by strikeouts and weak contact. It might have been passable on many nights, but the Mets lately are finding just enough ways to lose.
With their bats asleep for the final six innings and pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Drew Smith ineffective during one key stretch, the Mets lost 6-4 to the Braves at Truist Park.
The loss was the Mets’ fourth straight and pushed them below .500.
Returning to this ballpark for the first time since they were swept in three games near the end of last season, costing them the NL East title, the Mets (30-31) managed only four hits.
Three came during a four-run third inning that included two-run homers from Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso before the Mets settled quietly into the night.
It was the seventh straight game in which the Mets failed to score more than four runs.
“I’m sure at some point in the year we’re going to start stringing hits together,” Lindor said. “We’re going to start driving in runs in high-leverage situations … We’ve been in the part of the year where we seem like we’re getting there and then all of a sudden we don’t get there. We just have to continue to stick together, enjoy the ride, play for each other and don’t back down from any challenge.”
The most conspicuous weak link in the lineup was Daniel Vogelbach, who finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
The disappointing DH’s OPS dropped to .649.
“Any time somebody is not following their track record, you are trying to get them back to it,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He’s frustrated. He knows how much better he’s capable of and he really wants to help the team win and it hasn’t happened for him consistently yet. He’s not the only one.”
Carrasco was solid for the Mets through five innings, but allowed three straight batters to reach to begin the sixth and was removed.
Sean Murphy delivered a two-run double that pulled the Braves within 4-3 before Smith entered and retired two batters.
But the third batter he faced, Marcell Ozuna, stroked a double to left field that tied the score.
After a wild pitch advanced Ozuna to third, Orlando Arcia hit a grounder off the glove of a diving Eduardo Escobar for an RBI single that put the Braves ahead 5-4.
The rally started when Carrasco walked Matt Olson leading off the inning and Austin Riley doubled him to third.
“The big one was the walk,” Carrasco said. “I started the inning with a walk and everything got out of hand.”
The Braves received insurance in the eighth after Eddie Rosario doubled against Adam Ottavino and reached third on Jeff McNeil’s fielding error. Rosario scored on Ozuna’s fielder’s choice.
Carrasco’s final line included four earned runs allowed on six hits, with two walks and four strikeouts, over five-plus innings and 86 pitches. In his previous two starts, against the Cubs and Phillies, the right-hander lasted at least six innings and allowed only one earned run in each game.
The Mets inflicted their damage on Bryce Elder in the third inning, using two-run homers from Lindor and Alonso to take a 4-1 lead. Omar Narvaez delivered a first-pitch single in his initial at-bat since returning from the injured list to start the rally before Lindor cleared the right-field fence. After McNeil walked, Alonso blasted his MLB-leading 22nd homer of the season. The hit was the 10th in Alonso’s last 20 that cleared an outfield fence.
Certainly the best sign in the inning was the slumping Lindor’s homer. Lindor entered the day batting only .199 against right-handers with four homers in 161 at-bats. Against lefties he was batting .243 with six homers in 74 at-bats.
Ozzie Albies’ homer in the second inning gave the Braves a 1-0 lead against Carrasco.
All of it occurred after the two teams sat through a weather delay of 1 hour, 40 minutes before the first pitch, despite the absence of rain.
“I’ve been confused a few times here,” Showalter said. “I don’t hear much. Thank goodness the [clubhouse attendants] tell us. The umpires had a problem, too … they tell us when to play and we play. We both started at the same time. [The Braves] seemed to know and our guys sort of figured it out.”
