Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets squared off against their division rival Atlanta Braves on Tuesday evening at Truist Park. Taijuan Walker got the nod for the Mets, who were hoping to bounce back after a dreadful 12-run loss the night prior. The Mets would have to do so missing both of their third baseman, Eduardo Escobar and Luis Guillorme, who were out of the lineup due to injuries.

Charlie Morton held the depleted Mets offense to zero runs through 6 2/3 innings, leading the Braves past the Mets by the score of 5-0. Atlanta gained another game in the standings, now trailing New York by 3.5 games in the National League East.

Brandon Nimmo led the game off by singling on a hard ground ball to the right side. That was quickly erased after Starling Marte bounced into a 1-4-3 double play.

Walker began his night with a pair of walks to the first two Braves hitters. Ronald Acuña Jr. was caught stealing by Michael Perez, who made his Mets debut in this game, though. Walker induced soft contact to escape any harm through the first inning.

After allowing a base hit to former Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud in the second inning, Walker forced all-star William Contreras into a 5-4-3 double play. On the last out of the inning, Walker covered first base on a toss from Pete Alonso to get the force out. It may have been on this play where he tweaked his back, which caused him to exit the game after just two innings.

After losing Carlos Carrasco to an oblique injury from Monday’s game, another injury could have become detrimental to the Mets rotation. Walker reportedly left the game due to back spasms and is not thought to be severe. Hopefully for Taijuan and the Mets, this doesn’t become a lingering issue. They cannot afford to lose another starter to the injured list in the middle of a playoff race (and with a doubleheader Saturday).

Checking into a major league game for the first time since 2015 with the Oakland A’s, R.J. Alvarez replaced the injured Walker in relief.

The former third-round pick was greeted by the home run ball while facing his second batter. Robbie Grossman crushed one to right field for a solo shot to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead. Alvarez threw two pitches above the head of Acuña Jr. and Dansby Swanson in the inning. On the wild pitch to Swanson, Acuña Jr. was once again caught stealing by Perez after he made an extraordinary play. The ball ricocheted off the backstop and rolled right through the home plate umpire’s legs. Perez was able to quickly pick it up and get the runner in time with the help of a nice tag by Jeff McNeil.

Alvarez ran into further trouble in his second inning of work. After giving up a leadoff walk to Austin Riley, Matt Olson blasted a two-run homer deep into the night. Back-to-back singles from d’Arnaud and Contreras put Alvarez and the rest of the Mets bullpen in hot water. Alvarez gained his composure to get out of the inning with no additional runs.

Stephen Nogosek, who was called up from Triple-A today along with Alvarez, gave up the final two runs of the game in the bottom of the seventh.

The Mets’ bats were quiet all night in Atlanta. Collectively, they tallied only six baserunners in nine innings. It was an underwhelming performance by the offense, collecting only three hits while striking out 14 times. The lineup should get a kick in the rump Wednesday with prospect Brett Baty expected to make his major-league debut.

The 38-year-old Morton turned back the clock and showed he still has electric stuff. He finished his day by striking out twelve Mets hitters and allowing three hits in 6 2/3 scoreless innings.

Player of the Game: Francisco Lindor

There wasn’t much the Mets did right in this one, but Francisco Lindor showed up to play. He racked up two hits and made consistent hard contact. He might have had three hits if it were not for Olson’s diving stop to end the game.

On Deck

Max Scherzer (8-2, 1.93 ERA, 126 SO) will match up with Jake Odorizzi (4-4, 3.80 ERA, 52 SO) in game three of the four-game set at Truist Park.

The Mets need their aces to come out dealing if they want to split the series with Atlanta. Scherzer threw seven scoreless innings his last time out against Atlanta. That followed seven innings of one-run ball in July.