The New York Mets (17-10) were defeated by the Atlanta Braves (17-11) by the score of 3-2 on Tuesday night at Citi Field.

Pitching

The Braves jumped on Noah Syndergaard early, as four straight hits leading off the game created a 3-0 advantage. After an Ozzie Albies single and a Ronald Acuna Jr. double, Freddie Freeman doubled both runners home. Freeman then scored on a Nick Markakis RBI single.

Syndergaard allowed a leadoff single, but picked Ender Inciarte off second to help him get out of a scoreless second inning.

The Braves loaded the bases in the third after a Markakis single, a Dansby Swanson hit by pitch, and a Ryan Flaherty walk. Syndergaard settled down and was able to get Mike Soroka to ground out to end the inning.

Syndergaard retired the first two batters easily in the fourth, then a pair of two-out singles from Acuna and Freeman put runners on the corners. However, Markakis struck out to strand the runners there.

The big righty bounced back, working around a one-out Swanson single in the fifth. He then set the Braves down in order, and struck out Acuna in the sixth to end his outing. Syndergaard’s final line was: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.

Jerry Blevins relieved Syndergaard in the top of the seventh. He retired the two lefties, Freeman and Markakis, but allowed a two-out single to Kurt Suzuki before being pulled.

AJ Ramos came on for Blevins and allowed a broken-bat single to Swanson. Flaherty then singled to left as well, however Yoenis Cespedes bailed Ramos out as he gunned down Suzuki trying to score.

Seth Lugo struck out one and was helped out by a nice running catch from Cespedes in a scoreless eighth. He worked around a two-out hit and struck out Swanson in the top of the ninth.

Hitting

Yoenis Cespedes and Jay Bruce picked up back-to-back two-out singles in the first, however, a Todd Frazier groundout ended the inning.

Cespedes led off the fourth with his second single of the game. After a Bruce line out, Todd Frazier singled to put two on and one out. Adrian Gonzalez then grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Tomas Nido lined a one-out double down the right-field line, he advanced to third on a Syndergaard fly out. However, the chance was wasted again as Asdrubal Cabrera struck out to strand him there.

Cespedes got the Mets on the board in the sixth with his third hit of the game. He cut the Braves lead to 3-1, as he crushed his seventh home run of the season to the second deck in left.

Asdrubal Cabrera led off the eighth with a single, but A.J. Minter retired Michael Conforto, Cespedes, and Bruce in order to end the inning.

The Mets got the first two men on in the ninth as Todd Frazier singled, and Adrian Gonzalez reached on a misplayed pop-up.

After Amed Rosario struck out, a wild pitch advanced the runners into scoring position. Wilmer Flores then grounded out, bringing scoring a run and cutting the lead to 3-2. However, Jose Reyes flew out to left with the tying run on second base to end the game.

One reason the Mets offense struggled tonight definitely was their production with runners in scoring position as they went a combined 0-7 in those situations.

On Deck

Jacob deGrom will take the mound tomorrow night against lefty Sean Newcomb as the Mets look to even the series at 7:10 p.m. at Citi Field. The game can be seen on SNY and heard on 710 WOR.