The Mets had a chance to pick up some big momentum on Sunday.
After dropping the final two games against the Nationals, they received strong pitching performances and the offense exploded as they were able to blow past the Braves in the first two games of their weekend set.
David Peterson then took the mound in the series finale in Atlanta and he worked his way through five efficient innings before struggling in a rough bottom of the sixth.
Atlanta was able to even things up and the Mets couldn’t come up with the big hit from there.
Juan Soto had a clutch RBI single in the top of the ninth, but a pair of pop outs stranded the go-ahead run on base as Jurickson Profar’s eighth inning two-run single ended up being the difference in the series finale.
New York did manage to win the set, but it was a frustrating way to end things.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done today,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Whether we have the lead or we’re trailing we have to be able to finish ballgames — the little things that we aren’t doing right now just continue to add up on us.
“Led 2-0 in the sixth, but we didn’t get much going after the [Mark] Vientos homer. We had a couple of chances and didn’t get the big hit and they got the big hit. But we won the series here and we have as good team coming up so we have to be ready tomorrow.
That big team? The NL East leading Phillies.
The division rivals come into Citi Field for a three-game set starting on Monday.
After Sunday’s frustrating loss, the Mets now sit a season-high 7.0 games behind Philadelphia.
Still, they feel like they are in a good spot heading into the huge set.
"We've had a good couple of games," Peterson said. "The guys are excited to head back home and we’ve got a good opponent coming in and a familiar one, so we just have to be ready to go and continue moving forward one game at a time."
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