Mets can't cash in on Braves' Sale of the century, drop fifth straight

Braves 5 Mets 0 (Truist Park, Atlanta, GA)

Mets Record: 45-29

Mets Streak: L5

Mets Last 10: 5-5

WP: Chris Sale (5-4)

LP: Paul Blackburn (0-1)

Seat On The Korner:

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

The Braves gave Chris Sale an extra few days rest so he could face the Mets in this series and the four-game set at Citi Field next week. It's been a rough season for the Braves thus far and, if Atlanta hopes to work its way back into the NL East hunt, beating the league-leading Mets would be the fastest route back. Step One of that plan worked the way the Braves had hoped. Sale, 36, flashed the form that earned him the Cy Young Award last season, falling just one out shy of a complete-game shutout to beat the Mets 5-0 and earn the invitation to chat with Ralph. He threw a season-high 116 pitches and sent the suddenly not-so-Amazin's to their fifth straight defeat — their worst skid of the season — by scattering five hits, walking one and striking out seven, including Pete Alonso three times. Only a dork hit to left field by Brandon Nimmo with two out in the ninth prevented Sale from having a shot at a complete game. Sale, whose heavily used slider baffled the Mets all night, lowered his ERA to 2.52 while raising his record to 5-4. His ERA over his last 10 starts is 1.23.

Need To Know:

• Jeff McNeil's single in the fifth inning extended his on-base streak to 20 games.

• Francisco Lindor came into the game with a .412 career average against Sale, with 14 hits in 34 at-bats, two homers and eight RBI. But this time Sale got the best of Lindor, who was was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

• Ronnie Mauricio has yet to get a hit batting right-handed since his call-up. With his 0-for-3 against Sale, the switch-hitting Mauricio is 0-for-11 as a righty hitter.

• The fifth Braves run came on a solo homer by Matt Olson off Ty Adcock in the seventh inning, Olson's 15th dinger of the season.

• The Phillies won, slicing the Mets' lead in the NL East to 1 game. The Mets play the Phillies in Philadelphia this weekend.

• Clay Holmes (7-3, 2.87 ERA) will bid to snap the Mets' losing streak when he goes up against Atlanta's Spencer Strider (1-5, 4.35 ERA) in the series finale.

• The Mets will need to use an opener or pull up someone from the minors to start Friday's series opener against the Phillies.

Turning Point

With Sale having found his form after some struggles early in the season and knowing the Mets hitters would have their work cut out for them, the game turned on just one pitch by Paul Blackburn — which Ronald Acuna Jr. deposited over the centerfield fence to give the Braves the only run they'd need. It was the only hit of the night for Acuna, who's been red-hot. Even going 0-for-2 with the walk the rest of the night, Acuna is 15-for-his-last-26 — a .577 average during that span. The homer was his eighth in 80 at-bats since coming off the Injured List and it was his 36th career leadoff homer.

Three Keys:

Blackburned

It was clear that, facing Sale, Paul Blackburn wouldn't have much room for error — so giving up three runs in the first inning didn't bode well for a potential Mets victory. After the Acuna leadoff home run , Blackburn gave up a hit to Alex Verdugo and walked Austin Riley. After getting Matt Olson on a comebacker, with runners moving to second and third, a strange error (more on that below) and a sacrifice fly by Marcell Ozuna accounted for a three-run Braves first that looked like Mount Everest with Sale on the mound. Blackburn actually pitched pretty well after the first inning. He got out of a man-on-third, no-out jam in a scoreless second inning and pitched into the fourth when he was lifted after 73 pitches; he was limited to 75. He was credited with giving up another run on a wild pitch that shouldn't have been (also, see below) by Jose Butto with a runner on third in that fourth.

Catch and release

The Braves' lead wasn't all on Blackburn. Mets catcher Luis Torrens was "unofficially" responsible for two of the four runs he gave up. Torrens, who has been pretty close to brilliant defensively since coming to the Mets last season in mostly a back-up role behind the plate, blocked a pitch in the dirt with runners at second and third and Marcell Ozuna up. Torrens quickly chased the ball a few feet away to his right and used his catcher's mask to stop it from rolling — which is illegal. It went for an error that allowed both runners to move up a base. Then, after Butto replaced Blackburn with two out and a runner on third in the fourth, ball four to Nick Allen was inside and Torrens failed to grab it, allowing Ozzie Albies to score from third. It was scored a wild pitch, but really could have been ruled a passed ball.

No help on the horizon

So, with Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill on the shelf, the Mets have some huge voids to fill in their pitching rotation. They had hoped to get some help from Frankie Montas, who made his fifth and final rehab start in Syracuse last night — but Montas has been horrible. Working his way back from a high-grade lat strain suffered during spring training, Montas did go five innings and threw 80 pitches, but his other numbers were, well, offensive: Five runs (all earned), seven hits including a homer, a walk and two strikeouts, as his rehab ERA ballooned to 13.19.