From Rout to “Ruh-Roh”: Mets Barely Hold Off Braves, 10–9

Mets 10 Braves 9 (Truist Park, Cobb County, GA)

Mets record: 36-53

Mets streak: Won 1

WP - Nolan McLean (6-6)

LP -Martín Pérez (1-4)

SV - Devin Williams (13)

Seat on the Korner: Bo Bichette

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

If Ralph Kiner were hosting this one, he might have needed a cold towel and a replay monitor after a game that refused to end quietly. Sitting down beside him is Bo Bichette, who didn’t just fill the box score—he quietly helped stabilize what turned into a full-blown, late-night survival test.

Bichette finished 3-for-5 with 3 RBI, pushing his team-leading total to 50, and scored once himself. That run, which at the time looked like simple insurance, ended up becoming something much more important: the Mets’ 10th run, and in a game that nearly unraveled completely in the ninth, the thinnest possible cushion between victory and disaster.

So Bo Bichette takes his seat on the Korner—not for one swing that stole the show, but for an afternoon where every single one of them mattered just a little more than it first appeared.

Need to Know

• Last night was the Braves' 250th win over the Mets in the city

  of Atlanta on the 250th birthday of the USA.

• Last night, MLB announced the rosters for the 2026 All-Star Game, which will take place in Philadelphia, PA, on July 14. Juan Soto was named to his fifth overall All-Star team and first as a member of the Mets. Five Braves were chosen to attend the Midsummer Classic: Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin, Chris Sale and Raisel Iglesias.

• Prior to today's game the Mets announced the following roster moves.: RHP Guillermo Zuñiga was selected to the Major League roster. Zuñiga will wear #46. RHP Joey Gerber was optioned to Triple-A following last night’s game.

• The game start was delayed 2 hours and 15 minutes due to weather.

• The Mets are in the midst of a seven-game, eight-day road trip (2-4) in Toronto (1-2) and Atlanta (1-2).

• The Mets have lost 12 of their last 15 games.

• Carson Benge's 16-game on-base streak and nine-game hitting streak came to an end as he went 0-5 today.

• The Mets are 18-28 on the road in 2026. Last season, the Mets went 34-47 on the road.

• The Mets are 11-14 against the NL East this season.

• Nolan McLean has made 17 starts this season totaling 101 1/3 innings with a 3.73 ERA,

• The Mets have won all 3 games that RHP Nolan McLean has started against the Braves in his career...He's 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA. (6 ER/17.0 IP) against the club.

• Martín Pérez has started against the Mets eight times previously

  (12 total games), coming into this game he had posted a perfect 5-0 record and a 2.94 ERA (16 ER/49.0 IP). He is now 5-1 (20 ER/53.1 IP) 3.38.

• Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless eighth inning and now has not allowed a run over his last 25.0 innings (23 G).During this stretch, he has held opposing batters to a .118 (10-85) average.

• The last nationally televised NBC Mets-Braves game prior to today was the 1999 NLCS. In case you forgot Al Leiter, pitching on just three days' rest, was chased in a disastrous first inning as Atlanta jumped out to a 5–0 lead behind Kevin Millwood. The Mets refused to quit, rallying with key hits from John Olerud, Darryl Hamilton, and a game-tying three-run homer by Mike Piazza off John Smoltz. New York grabbed the lead twice in extra innings, but the Braves answered each time. In the bottom of the 11th, Kenny Rogers issued a bases-loaded walk to Andruw Jones, who was broadcasting for NBC today, forcing home the winning run as Atlanta claimed the National League pennant, 10–9. "Interesting score isn't it ? "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3IfdkG8LqI

Turning Point

Hard to make a turning point something that was self-inflicted, but it came in the ninth inning—when Devin Williams was finally able to dig deep and shut the door, even if just barely. With the Mets clinging to a 10–9 lead, Williams found himself somehow with the tying run at third and the winning run at second, facing Dom Smith in a situation that felt more like survival than pitching. After an inning of bullpen turbulence that had already erased what once looked like a comfortable 10-3 lead, Williams leaned on his signature “air-bender” changeup to finish the job, striking out Smith to end it. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t comfortable—but it was the pitch that ultimately preserved a wild Mets victory and if Bob Murphy was still alive he would have said ,"And they win the Damn Game. "

Three Keys

National Workaholics Day

July 5th also carries a few quirky national observances, including National Workaholics Day, a reminder about the grind and the value of pushing through long hours. Nolan McLean embodied that spirit after a brutal opening inning, then settled in to deliver a true workmanlike effort for the Mets under the theme of “Clocking Overtime.” Atlanta struck for three runs in the first, highlighted by a two-run single from Michael Harris II and a Mauricio Dubón RBI hit, plus a costly pickoff error that extended the damage. But from there, McLean went into full labor mode, grinding through the Braves’ lineup with strikeouts, weak contact, and steady ground balls over the next five plus innings. After surviving the early chaos, he effectively punched the clock, turning what began as a rough shift into a steady, stabilizing outing retiring 13 of his last 15 for New York.

National Bikini Day

July 5th doesn’t just bring National Workaholics Day; it also features National Bikini Day, which marks the anniversary of the unveiling of the modern two-piece swimsuit, first introduced in Paris in 1946 by designer Louis Réard. The idea was something bold and impossible to hide—and in that same spirit, there was no covering up Mark Vientos’ defensive struggles at first base. While Vientos continues to put in the work and effort, his glove remains , to put it politely is very much a work in progress. He endured yet another tough afternoon in the field, first failing to handle a Nolan McLean pickoff throw in the opening inning that led to an unearned run, and later in the fifth inning misplaying a ground ball while backing up on it. Even with a chance to recover and make the play, he then fumbled the transfer on his throw attempt, allowing the runner to remain safely aboard.

National Graham Cracker Day

July 5th also brings National Graham Cracker Day, which celebrates the classic whole-wheat cracker first developed in the 1830s by minister Sylvester Graham as part of his push for simple, wholesome eating. The day is often tied to the idea of something plain, sturdy, and built to hold things together—though in baseball terms, sometimes things still crumble. That was the case for former Mets right-hander “Cookie” Carlos Carrasco, who was selected to the Braves’ major league roster yet again in a familiar season-long shuttle between Atlanta and Triple-A Gwinnett. Carrasco actually delivered a scoreless eighth inning to keep the Braves in position, but the cookie ultimately crumbled in the ninth when he allowed a 417-foot blast to Tyrone Taylor, his second in two days. By the end of the outing, his line read : two innings pitched, five hits, five runs, and two walks.

The Mets, however, had their own version of the late-game breakdown. With New York leading 10–3, Huascar Brazobán was unable to hold the line, allowing five runs and suddenly turning what looked like a comfortable finish into a save situation for Devin Williams. Williams was far from dominant himself, giving up a run and putting the tying run at third and the winning run at second with Dom Smith at the plate, before finally escaping the jam with a strikeout to preserve a 10–9 Mets victory—though “hold on for dear life” might be the more accurate description than “preserve.”