The Mets received a great start from Jacob deGrom and a solid effort from the bullpen, but the offense fell flat on its face as deGrom provided his only run support with a solo homer.

On a night when the Mets tied a major league record with 26 strikeouts, the Braves pitching staff out-duled the Mets as they came away with the edge, 2-1, in the first game of this crucial three-game series.

Pitching

DeGrom had it working from the onset, hitting 99 with his fastball and 93 with his slider. He was only a little bit shaky in the second inning, but induced a line out from Alex Jackson to escape that situation.

After a one-out walk to Ronald Acuna Jr. in the third inning is when deGrom really got it going. He won an impressive nine-pitch battle with Freddie Freeman, a strikeout that would be the first of eight in a row. That tied deGrom’s personal best for consecutive strikeouts.

Ozzie Albies finally broke the strikeout streak in the sixth with a one-out single. After he stole second, Freeman singled him home to give the Braves a 1-0 lead, but deGrom retired the next two batters on strikes to limit the damage.

Shortly after tying the game with a homer, deGrom came back out to the mound in the seventh and threw an electric one-two-three inning.

Overall, deGrom gave up just the one run on four hits and one walk, with a whopping 13 strikeouts. He also lowered his season ERA to 2.56.

Seth Lugo came into a tie game in the eighth. He didn’t have his best control, walking two (one intentional), but struck out Josh Donaldson to escape a two-on, two-out jam.

Rather than going to struggling closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth, the Mets opted to keep Lugo in, and he threw a much cleaner inning with two strikeouts.

Diaz did eventually come in to pitch the 10th inning. After he hit Alex Jackson, recently acquired speedster Billy Hamilton pinch-ran for him. Pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson advanced him to second with a sac bunt, and Hamilton stole third.

So suddenly, arguably the fastest player in baseball was on third base with less than two outs. With that in mind, Diaz stepped up big time, emphatically striking out Acuna and Albies to escape the frame unscathed and pumping his fists walking off the mound.

Luis Avilan came in to face Freeman to lead off the 11th. Avilan did his job, utilizing his changeup to strike Freeman out.

Brad Brach then replaced him to finish the inning. After striking out Donaldson, he allowed a two-out single to Tyler Flowers, but retired Adeiny Hechavarria to comfortably end the inning.

Paul Sewald came in to face the bottom of the order, retiring the first two batters and striking out starting pitcher Julio Teheran, who pinch-hit with the Braves out of bench players.

Justin Wilson pitched a clean 13th, working around a leadoff infield single to Acuna.

Jeurys Familia entered in the 14th inning, and immediately walked the first hitter. Recent former Met Hechavarria drove one to the gap, reaching third as the go-ahead run came home. However, upon further review, the ball was stuck in the wall and it was ruled a ground-rule double.

The run was taken off the board, with Flowers remaining on third and Hechavarria moving back to second. With no outs, Familia worked around his iffy command to record a huge strikeout of Rafael Ortega.

With the infield in, Hamilton slapped a hit past Joe Panik to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. Familia struck out another pinch-hitting pitcher in Max Fried, then walked Acuna to re-load the bases.

Albies then struck out with the bases loaded to limit the damage, Familia’s third strikeout of the inning and the Mets’ 26th of the game, which tied a major league record.

Offense

The Mets has almost no offense early on against struggling right-handed Mike Foltynewicz. Before the sixth inning, all they were able to scratch out was a Luis Guillorme double and a J.D. Davis walk.

After the Braves took a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth, deGrom homered on the first pitch thrown in the bottom of the sixth. It was his second home of the year, and the third of his career.

Despite the roaring and energizing ovation from the crowd for deGrom’s heroics, the offense continued to go down quietly following his homer. Guillorme drew a walk in the seventh, but the Mets’ position players otherwise couldn’t touch Foltynewicz.

Braves deadline acquisitions Shane Greene and Chris Martin each shut down the Mets in the eighth and ninth innings respectively, with Martin only allowing a Pete Alonso single.

The Mets rallied with two outs in the bottom of the 10th. Juan Lagares and Wilson Ramos hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners, and Ramos stole the first base of his career to put two runners in scoring position.

Todd Frazier drew a clutch walk to load the bases and keep the inning alive, but Amed Rosario struck out swinging on a low slider to end the threat.

Panik was hit by a pitch to lead off the 11th, and while Alonso struck out, Panik advanced to third on two wild pitches.

With the winning run on third and two outs, Michael Conforto struck out on a foul tip, so the Braves intentionally walked Davis to get to pinch-hitter Aaron Altherr. Altherr grounded out, ending yet another walk-off threat.

Ramos grounded a one-out single up the middle in the 12th, but the offense did nothing to support it, as the game went on to the 13th.

The Mets went down quickly in the 13th, with Alonso striking out for the third time.

Down 2-1 in the 14th, Davis struck out looking. Steven Matz pinch-hit, quickly grounding out to third for the second out. Lagares took a decent at-bat against Mark Melancon, fouling off a couple pitches before hitting a hard lineout to end the game.

On Deck

The Mets will continue their three-game series with a 1:10 PM ET start time on Sunday. Steven Matz (8-7, 4.18 ERA) will take the mound against fellow southpaw Dallas Keuchel (4-5, 4.14 ERA).

The game will be televised on WPIX and broadcast on WCBS 880 and ESPN-1050.