Sunday, July 5, 2026 • 12:30 PM
Truist Park • Atlanta, GA
RHP Nolan McLean (5-5, 3.78) vs. LHP Martín Pérez (6-5, 3.27)
NBC Peacock

The New York Mets have scored three runs in each of their last four games. They have won one of those games by a shutout, lost one close game, and have been blown out twice. Taking a larger step back, the Mets have now lost 12 of their last 14 games. They entered this series against an Atlanta team that had lost eight of their last 10 games.

The Mets still have a chance to split this series, but that requires winning this afternoon’s game.

Mets Lineup

  1. Francisco Lindor – SS
  2. Juan Soto – DH
  3. Bo Bichette – 3B
  4. Mark Vientos – 1B
  5. Carson Benge – RF
  6. Tyrone Taylor – LF
  7. A.J. Ewing – CF
  8. Luis Torrens – C
  9. Brett Baty – 2B

Starting Pitcher: Nolan McLean

Nolan McLean has made 17 starts this season totaling 95 1/3 innings with a 3.78 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 1.122 WHIP, and a 110 ERA+. He’s coming off of a solid start where he held the Blue Jays scoreless over six innings, scattering five hits while striking out nine. It was his fifth solid start in his last six as he has been finding his groove again recently. In his last four starts he has struck out 31 batters over 23 innings.

Earlier in June he allowed two runs over four innings against the Braves who have the following career stats against him:

  • Ozzie Albies 1-4, BB
  • Drake Baldwin 1-3
  • Mauricio Dubon 0-2
  • Michael Harris II 0-5
  • Matt Olson 0-5, 4 K
  • Austin Riley 0-0, 2 BB
  • Dominic Smith 1-2
  • Mike Yastrzemski 1-2, K

Braves Lineup

  1. Drake Baldwin – C
  2. Ozzie Albies – 2B
  3. Matt Olson – 1B
  4. Michael Harris II – CF
  5. Mauricio Dubon – LF
  6. Dominic Smith – DH
  7. Austin Riley – 3B
  8. Mike Yastrzemski – RF
  9. Jim Jarvis – SS

Starting Pitcher: Martin Pérez

Martín Pérez has pitched in 17 games this season making 13 starts totaling 77 innings with a 3.27 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.156 WHIP, and a 126 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed seven runs from seven hits, including three home runs, over nine innings of work.

In the two starts before that he allowed only two runs over 11 1/3 innings, including 5 1/3 innings of one run ball against the Mets. The Mets have the following career numbers against Pérez:

  • Francisco Alvarez 0-4, 2 BB, K
  • Brett Baty 1-2
  • Carson Benge 0-2, K
  • Bo Bichette 5-10, 2 2B, BB, K
  • Francisco Lindor 8-19, 2B, 5 BB, K
  • Juan Soto 4-10, HR, BB
  • Tyrone Taylor2-3, BB
  • Luis Torrens 0-6, BB, 3 K
  • Mark Vientos 1-6, K
  • Eric Wagaman 0-2, 2 K

Game Notes

Prior to Sunday’s game, the Mets announced that they selected the contract of relief pitcher Guillermo Zuñiga and sent right-handed pitcher Joey Gerber to Triple-A Syracuse.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Losing continues. The last several weeks have been real rough for the Mets. The Mets played .500 baseball for the couple of weeks in June, not gaining ground, but not really losing ground. Now they have entered another tailspin where they have lost 12 of 14 games and fired their manager.
  2. Another game, the same problem. The Mets have been struggling massively with runners in scoring position over the last week. Saturday night, the Mets went 1-for-9 with RISP, leaving 11 runners on base. Overall, the Mets had 10 hits and two walks but were only able to turn that into three runs. All three runs the Mets scored came on home runs, which matches a trend we have seen this past week.
  3. Juan Soto. Before Saturday night’s game, Juan Soto was named the National League’s All-Star starting lineup. It is his first time being an All-Star with the Mets after getting snubbed last season, a season where he ended with 6.1 bWAR, leading the league in stolen bases, walks, and on-base percentage. Soto has been having another All-Star quality season entering yesterday’s games leading the league in OBP, OPS, and OPS+.