Facing their seventh loss in a row with two on and none out, down by one in the bottom of the ninth, the New York Mets (37-47) couldn’t muster a base hit when they needed it the most, losing a heart-breaker to the Atlanta Braves (50-34), 5-4 (box score).

After a thrilling pre-game ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Miracle Mets, the 2019 Mets blew another late lead to drop to ten games under .500 and 13 games behind the Braves in the NL East.

Pitching

Steven Matz ran into trouble in the first, allowing back-to-back singles to Ronald Acuna and Dansby Swanson, with Acuna advancing to third on Dominic Smith‘s mental lapse in left field. Instead of throwing to third on Swanson’s single to left, Smith threw behind a decelerating Acuna.

After striking out Freddie Freeman, Matz hit Josh Donaldson with a pitch, loading the bases for Ozzie Albies, who singled up the middle, scoring Acuna and Swanson. Donaldson was tagged out at third, but the Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead, regardless.

The left-hander pitched a perfect second, racking up two strikeouts — Tyler Flowers and Julio Teheran, both looking. After an hour-ten-minute rain delay, Matz’ afternoon was over after allowing two runs on three hits over two innings (three strikeouts, no walks).

Right-hander Chris Mazza, 29, was called upon to make his MLB debut once play resumed and immediately allowed a single to Acuna and an RBI double via Swanson, putting the Braves ahead 3-0.

Mazza caught Freeman looking at a well-placed inside-half slider for his first major-league strikeout, induced a 6-3 putout from Donaldson, and got Albies to fly out, stranding Swanson at second.

Austin Riley singled off Mazza to start the fourth, but the eight-year minor-league veteran got Johan Camargo to line out and Flowers grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the frame.

Pete Alonso made an outstanding grab to rob Matt Joyce of a base hit for the first out of the fifth. Mazza allowed a one-out double to Acuna, but Dom Smith made a nice play in left to snag a Swanson liner and Mazza retired Freeman on a ground ball, stranding the runner.

Mazza worked around a hit-by-pitch (Albies) in a scoreless sixth, closing out his afternoon with a big strikeout of Flowers after submitting four innings of one-run ball in his major-league debut.

Seth Lugo took the ball in the seventh, working around Swanson’s two-out double with an inning-ending strikeout of Freeman, but the righty allowed back-to-back solo homers to Nick Markakis and Austin Riley — on 3-and-0, no less –, staking the Braves to a 5-4 lead.

Charlie Culberson added a two-out pinch-hit single and that was the end of the line for Lugo. When Mets manager Mickey Callaway came out to retrieve his reliever, the Citi Field faithful rained down a chorus of boos on the under-fire skipper.

Brooks Pounders came on to get the final out of the eighth, setting down Acuna after issuing a two-out walk to Brian McCann. The right-hander worked around a single via Donaldson in a scoreless ninth.

Offense

Pete Alonso drew a one-out walk in the first and Robinson Cano followed him with a single over the bag at second, moving Alonso to third thanks to Pete’s fundamentally-sound baserunning. Atlanta starter Julio Teheran walked Michael Conforto to load the bases, but Todd Frazier lined out sharply to left field and Dom Smith struck out to end the threat.

The Mets loaded the bases again in the second, this time with two outs, but Robinson Cano struck out looking at a questionable, low-outside four-seamer from Teheran, much to the dismay of a sold-out Citi Field crowd.

Teheran survived the rain delay and set down Conforto and Frazier in the third, but allowed a towering, 430-foot solo homer to Dom Smith, putting the Mets on the board and cutting Atlanta’s lead to 3-1.

Amed Rosario led off the bottom of the fourth with a rocketed double into the left-center field gap. Chris Mazza popped up a bunt attempt in his first major-league at-bat, but Jeff McNeil drove the 10th pitch he saw from Teheran over Albies’ head in centerfield to score Rosario and make it a 3-2 game.

McNeil advanced to third on a wild pitch from Teheran — ball four to Alonso — and that was all for Atlanta’s enigmatic right-hander.

Former Mets great (yes, I said it), Jerry Blevins entered with one out and men on the corners to face the left-handed Cano and got the 36-year-old to pop out to shallow left, inciting more boos, and got Conforto to ground out, limiting the damage.

Rosario led off the sixth with a line drive into center field, stole second, and came home on McNeil’s second RBI-double of the afternoon. Two batters later, Cano added his second hit of the day to bring McNeil home and give the Mets a 4-3 lead.

Faced with a one-run deficit heading into the eighth, courtesy of yet another bullpen implosion, the Mets went down in succession.

The Mets got the leadoff runner on in the ninth (Alonso reached on a Freeman fielding error; Juan Lagares pinch-ran) and J.D. Davis drew a walk (Carlos Gomez pinch-ran), putting the winning run on base.

Michael Conforto struck out, Frazier grounded out to third, moving the runners into scoring position for Dom Smith, who struck out on three pitches to send the Mets to their seventh loss in a row.

On Deck

Noah Syndergaard (5-4, 4.55 ERA) makes his return to the mound in Sunday’s series finale at Citi Field. Left-hander Max Fried (9-3, 3.96 ERA) will take the mound for Atlanta.

The game is at 7:05 PM ET, will be televised on ESPN and broadcast on WCBS 880 AM.