ATLANTA — Stink, stank, stunk.
That’s the anatomy of the Mets’ three games at Truist Park that followed their equally compelling series last weekend against the Rays.
The Mets were sputtering before Thursday’s first pitch was thrown. Following a 7-1 loss to the Braves for a sixth straight defeat, the threat of a lingering stench seemed likely.
It’s a team headed into Philadelphia to face Zack Wheeler on Friday with sole possession of first place in the NL East a memory.
The Phillies have won five of six games and ended the day tied with the Mets atop the division.
That the Mets are slumping offensively isn’t sounding alarms as much as the recent pitching doldrums.
On this night, it was Clay Holmes who turned in a clunker, following an uninspiring Paul Blackburn start.
Huascar Brazobán didn’t provide any relief, either.
That left manager Carlos Mendoza to use Justin Hagenman for 2 ²/₃ innings, removing him from duty Friday when he likely would have followed an opener against the Phillies.
The Mets instead will insert rookie Blade Tidwell into the rotation for a spot start.
What is the difference between most of this season and now for the Mets?
“It seemed like we were finding a way to win ball games, being able to stay close and create some comebacks when we went through the good stretches,” Brandon Nimmo said. “Pretty much every team has gone through the stretch we’re going through right now. It’s going to happen. It doesn’t make it any easier to go through.”
Mendoza was more direct in pointing to the root of the Mets’ struggles.
“I think the starting pitching right now,” Mendoza said. “They have been so good the whole year, and then you lose a couple of guys who were throwing the ball well, and then some other guys [have] a couple of bad outings. We’re going through a rough stretch right now, but it starts right there on the mound.”
There is no excusing a lineup that produced only one run over the final 22 innings against the Braves, barely emitting a squeak against Chris Sale and Spencer Strider.
The Braves are still five games below .500 but have to believe their season is alive, especially with a four-game series looming next week at Citi Field.
“I said coming in there that I think they are a better team than what their record shows,” Nimmo said. “They got off to a rough start, just like we did last year and look what happened to us last year [advancing to the NLCS].”
Holmes couldn’t escape the fifth, extending Drake Baldwin’s at-bat to eight pitches before walking him with the bases loaded to give the Braves a 2-1 lead.
Holmes departed at 104 pitches, and Brazobán issued a four-pitch walk to Ozzie Albies that further extended Atlanta’s lead before Brazobán recorded the final out.
Holmes was charged with three earned runs on four hits and six walks over 4 ²/₃ innings in a rare sloppy performance that pushed his ERA to 3.04.
It was a second straight start in which Holmes failed to pitch into the sixth inning.
“The stuff felt pretty good tonight, I think it was just a matter of executing some of the secondary [pitches] in the zone,” Holmes said. “Not enough strikes with those and I just got in a lot of deep counts.”
Ronny Mauricio stroked an RBI single against Strider in the second for the game’s first run. Tyrone Taylor singled and stole second before Mauricio delivered with two outs.
The RBI snapped a 15-inning scoreless streak for the Mets, who were dominated by Sale a night earlier.
But the Mets’ bats disappeared for the remainder of the game.
Albies’ RBI single in the fourth tied it 1-1.
Holmes walked Matt Olson leading off the inning and Marcell Ozuna singled before Albies brought in the run.
But Holmes escaped the inning by getting Michael Harris II to ground into a fielder’s choice and striking out Nick Allen.
Holmes walked Ronald Acuña Jr. and Olson in the fifth with a one-out single by Austin Riley sandwiched in-between.
But Holmes rebounded to strike out Ozuna with the bases loaded before his eight-pitch showdown with Baldwin that ended with a walk.
The Braves broke it open with four runs in the sixth, all of which were charged to Brazobán.
Olson delivered the dagger by smashing a bases-loaded double that extended the lead to 6-1 before Baldwin’s RBI single gave the Braves their final run.
“We’ll come out of it,” Holmes said. “There’s a lot of good players in here and it’s going to take all of us. [But] you have got to go through it. It’s definitely tough right now.”
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