ATLANTA, GA – JULY 06: Atlanta pitcher Raisel Iglesias (26) reacts after giving up a three-run home run in the 9th inning during the MLB game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves on July 6th, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
If I told you that over the course of this four game series against the New York Mets that the Atlanta Braves would score 29 runs and hit 11 dingers, you’d think that Atlanta just absolutely had their way with the Mets across the four games.
Instead, that offensive explosion coincided with the bullpen continuing their recent struggles and turning what could’ve been a four-game sweep into an annoying and frustrating series split at home for the Braves against the Mets. There are plenty of offensive highlights to enjoy during this recap but the deeper we get into it, the scarier it gets as far as the pitching goes. Now it’s time to get into how this tantalizing-yet-ultimately annoying series went for the Braves.
Friday, July 3
Braves 5, Mets 3
Heading into this series, the Braves were in a serious power drought where a lot of the core players weren’t really doing a lot of slugging at the plate during that miserable month of June. That changed in the series opener, as the Braves took out a bit of frustration on New York’s pitching staff to the tune of four homers in one night. It was an explosion of offense given what had gone down in recent times, so it was certainly pleasant to see the core guys get it done for Atlanta in this one.
Michael Harris II deposited one deep into center field in the second inning at Christian Scott’s expense to make it a 2-0 game. The Mets responded in the very next frame because Juan Soto is good at baseball and hit a home run but that ended up being the high point for the Mets since the Braves took control of things in the very next frame after Ozzie Albies took liftoff on a heater and sent it into the Chop House for a go-ahead solo shot.
The fifth inning saw the Braves get some insurance with Matt Olson giving A.J. Minter a rude welcome back to town with a solo shot to the seats in right-center. Olson wasn’t done there, either, as he smacked one out to the Chop House off of Kodai Senga to make it 5-2 Braves. Raisel Iglesias got to make an appearance to pick up a save for once and while Bo Bichette continued to turn his season around with another RBI single, that was all the Mets could get against Iggy and the Braves were in the win column to get this one going.
Saturday, July 4
Braves 14, Mets 3
Instead of Friday night being a blip, it was actually a sign of things to come and an omen for the Mets as the Braves gave New York a serious paddling in this one. Eli White got it started for the Braves in the second inning with a solo shot and it was off to the races for Atlanta from there. Michael Harris II looped one into right field for an RBI single in the third inning and hen Eli White brought in two runs on a play that signifies just how poorly this season has gone for the New York Mets. Once the smoke cleared, it was 5-0 and then Mauricio Dubón added to New York’s pain with a solo shot to lead off the fourth inning.
The middle portion of this frame did see the Mets attempt to make a comeback, as they were able to singe Chris Sale’s armor with a Tyrone Taylor home run in the fifth and a two-run dinger from Mark Vientos in the sixth inning. Fortunately, Chris Sale actually received an abundance of run support during one of his starts for once so he didn’t have to leave the game knowing that his mistakes left the Braves in a hole. Instead, he did enough to make sure that the Mets were the ones in a hole once Sale eventually left the game following five complete innings of work.
Still, Dylan Lee finished off the sixth for Sale and that opened up the door for the Braves to finish the night with a flurry of offense. Atlanta scored two runs in the sixth, (RBI double from Joey Bart and a productive out from Mauricio Dubón), two more in the seventh (Mike Yastrzemski two-run dinger) and then four more in the eighth (three-run homer from Austin Riley in the eighth and then a solo shot from Michael Harris II off of Luis Torrens, who is a catcher) to make it two touchdowns and two extra points for the Braves on the night.
Sunday, July 5
Mets 10, Braves 9
Well, this one certainly had a finish that was nearly one for the ages and just another wacky chapter that you can add to the number of wild games that these two teams have played against each other over the years. Sadly, they lost Martín Pérez to a contusion on his arm and this was after Pérez looked shaky in the first two innings of this one where he gave up five runs (four earned).
It looked like we’d have a wacky one on our hands after the Braves responded to Bo Bichette’s first-inning RBI single with three runs of their own in their half of the first but things actually stayed quiet until the ninth inning, which is when it all hit the fan. Carlos Carrasco was called upon for a second inning of relief work and as has been usual whenever Carrasco has gone longer than one inning, it did not end well at all. Tyrone Taylor led off the ninth with a home run and then the Mets added on four more runs with two outs on the board. Bo Bichette delivered the double that broke open the game and then Jared Young brought in a pair with an RBI single of his own and just like that, the game was seemingly over at 10-3 following a nightmarish outing from Carrasco.
However, the game was not over as the Braves proceeded to mount their most furious comeback of the season so far. Huascar Brazobán had a nightmare of his own as the Braves scored a run on a pickoff gone awry and then Austin Riley and Eli White both reached base safely to join Dominic Smith on the basepaths to make it bases loaded with one out. Brazobán then left a sinker in the zone for Drake Baldwin to send deep to left field for a grand slam that just barely cleared the fence. The big dinger made it 10-8 and the Mets ended up putting Devin Williams out there to finish things off.
Even still, Williams looked wobbly and ended up putting Matt Olson on third base (after a double) with a wild pitch — one that Michael Harris II promptly deposited with an RBI single of his own to make it 10-9 and six runs in the ninth inning alone. Unfortunately, the rally ended with Dominic Smith striking out swinging and the audacious comeback attempt fell short with two runners in scoring position.
Monday, July 6
Mets 7, Braves 6
These two teams are just prone to playing crazy games against each other, huh?
Coming into this game, Raisel Iglesias had converted his past thirty-five save attempts successfully. It came down to Iglesias having to protect a one-run lead against the Mets and one thing that’s been a bit of a trend for Iggy is that the first at-bat of any of his appearances is usually indicative of how the rest of it will go. If Iglesias gets the first out, there’s usually no problem and we’ll see him with both arms raised to the sky by the end of the inning. If the leadoff runner gets on, it’s going to get dicey.
Sure enough, Francisco Alvarez poked one out into the green for a single on the first pitch he saw and it got dicey from there. Ronny Mauricio got on with a one-out single and that ensured that Juan Soto would eventually get a shot with two men on and two out. Iggy fell into a 3-1 hole against Soto and was forced to throw him a strike and once he did, the result was not good at all. Soto crushed it into the Chop House and just like that, the Mets went from being one run down to being two runs up.
Fortunately, that all ended up getting wiped out almost immediately after Ozzie Albies doubled to lead off the ninth and then Matt Olson went deep the opposite way for a game-tying two-run shot (his second dinger of the night and on his Bobble Card night, no less!). There was still nobody out and the Braves actually had the winning run at third base with two outs but the newly called up José Azócar struck out on three pitches in pinch-hit duty and extra innings were afoot.
Owen Murphy actually made his big league debut in the tenth inning, which doesn’t exactly seem like the most ideal situation to bring in a guy making his big league debut! While Murphy did eventually get to two outs, he ended up faltering by giving up a double on a hanging curve to Luis Torrens and the Mets were back in front by two runs heading into the bottom of the tenth. Atlanta actually got one of the runs back and very nearly became the first team to pick up an earned run off of Luke Weaver since April but Ozzie Albies struck out with a runner in scoring position and then Mauricio Dubón grounded out with the bases loaded to ensure that the Mets inexplicably got out of here with a split.
As frustrating as it is, this is yet another example that the records simply do not matter whenever these two teams play. Three out of the four games were hard fought and unfortunately for the Braves, two of those games saw Atlanta’s bullpen collapse late. It’s one thing to see Carlos Carrasco cough one up — at this point, it’s expected whenever he goes for longer than an inning. It’s another to see Raisel Iglesias finally blow a save for the first time in what feels like ages. Both of those performances were absolute gut punches and the fact that it came in a situation where Atlanta’s offense was showing clear signs of life and returning to form? Just brutal.
That’s the silver lining when it comes to this disappointing split: Atlanta’s lineup built upon what they had going on against the Cardinals earlier on in the homestand and this time, the power came in handy. Matt Olson had six hits in this series and four of them were dingers. Ozzie Albies went deep in this series. Michael Harris II had a round-tripper as well. Drake Baldwin cracked a grand slam! Even Austin Riley got in on the fun with a dinger of his own. Those guys had all been struggling with finding their power and the fact that they all got going at the plate is an encouraging sign for the road trip ahead.
That silver lining is also frustrating in and of itself just because this power surge seemed to coincide with Atlanta’s bullpen finally starting to slip up. It’s just so frustrating to watch this team split this series almost solely due to the pitching slipping up. It’s especially frustrating since the Mets were still sloppy as usual in the wins. You have to give credit to Juan Soto for continuing to get it done for New York whenever he gets the opportunity and Bo Bichette has really proven to be a thorn in Atlanta’s side but at the same time, the Mets didn’t exactly play crisp and clean baseball over the course of these four games. Instead, it came down to Atlanta’s bullpen faltering at the worst possible moments when even a decent performance could’ve led to at least a series win and maybe even a sweep!
So now, it just feels like an opportunity lost and one of those situations where you sure hope that the Braves aren’t looking back on these four losses to the Mets over the span of a few weeks and wishing that they could’ve had even just one of those wins back. It’s a disappointing end to what was looking like such a promising series where the Braves could’ve taken care of business against a struggling divisional foe. Instead, the Mets and Braves continued their Batman and Joker routine where they appear destined to just Do This Forever, no matter where either team is placed at in the standings whenever they meet each other.