New York Mets blanked by Chris Sale, Braves to drop series

It was another ugly night for the New York Mets, who lost their fifth straight game and ultimately dropped their series to the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against Mets right-handed starter Paul Blackburn. Ronald Acuna Jr. got things going with a leadoff home run to begin the game, catcher Luis Torrens made a costly error to score another run and a sacrifice fly capped off the inning.

Atlanta was able to cruise to an easy victory behind left-handed ace Chris Sale, who dominated the Mets' bats across 8.2 shutout innings. Sale was one out away from notching a complete game shutout, but allowed a single to Brandon Nimmo with two outs in the ninth inning at 116 pitches.

Braves closer Raisel Iglesias came on in relief of Sale to finish the job by inducing a game-ending groundout from Torrens. The Braves won the game by a score of 5-0.

The Mets have now lost the first two games of their series against the Braves.

The Mets blew a three-run lead the night before on Tuesday when Reed Garrett surrendered a three-run double to Marcel Ozuna in the eighth inning to tie the game. Catcher Francisco Alvarez's passed ball and mistake of throwing to the wrong base in the 10th inning eventually led to a walk-off sacrifice fly from Austin Riley.

Coming off a weekend where they were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in a three game series at home, the Mets are off to an 0-2 record in a pivotal 10-game stretch against the NL East rival Braves and Philadelphia Phillies.

New York will look to avoid getting swept by the Braves, as well as a sixth straight loss on Thursday. Clay Holmes will go up against Spencer Strider in this matchup.

The Mets still hold a one game lead on the Phillies in the NL East.