The Braves and Mets kicked off a five-game series on Monday, which began with a  doubleheader at Citi Field. It was Marcus Stroman for the Mets and Kyle Muller for the Braves taking the mound in game one. The Mets’ bats, so strong of late, failed to show-up in a 2-0 Atlanta win in the opener.

Marcus Stroman threw a strong top of the first, giving up just one one-out hit to Ozzie Albies and retiring the next two batters he faced.

The Mets went down quiet in the bottom half, leaving Jonathan Villar on base after a lead-off walk.

Stroman showed early signs of struggling as the Braves struck first in the top of the third. The inning began with a double by Guillermo Heredia and a single by Muller that moved Heredia to third. Joc Pederson then hit a double with no outs that scored Heredia and moved Muller to third.

After a strikeout of Albies, Stroman then intentionally walked the red-hot Freddie Freeman to load the bases.

After a mound visit, Stroman forced Austin Riley into grounding into a double play to get out of the inning.

The Mets showed signs of life in the third, as Stroman hit a one-out bunt single to reach and Villar followed with a single to advance Stroman to second. Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto struck out to end the inning.

The Braves then struck again in the fourth. The inning began with a double by Dansby Swanson, and a single by Stephen Vogt that moved Swanson to third. Stroman then forced Orlando Arcia into a ground out, but it allowed Swanson to score to extend the Braves’ lead over the Mets to 2-0 in the top of the fourth.

Stroman then struck out Heredia and Muller back-to-back to end the inning.

The Mets again went down quietly in the fourth, as Kevin Pillar was the only batter to produce a hit in the inning, but was stranded at first as Tomas Nido grounded out to end the inning.

After a lead-off pop out of Pederson and fly out of Albies, Freeman and Riley hit back-to-back singles to get the Braves started in the fifth, but Swanson grounded into a force out to end the inning.

The Mets again tried to get some offensive momentum started in the bottom half of the fifth. Following a ground out by Luis Guillorme, Brandon Drury hit a pinch-hit double and Villar walked to put two runners on for the Mets with one out. Alonso then grounded into a double play to end the inning, again leaving runners stranded.

Miguel Castro came on to replace Marcus Stroman in the top of the sixth.

Stroman’s final line:

5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2.63 ERA

Castro was looking to stay strong in his outing Monday night, having struggled throughout the early part of the second half of the season, but looking strong recently. He came in and faced four batters in the sixth, giving up just one single to Heredia (2-for-3 on the day), and retiring the other batters he faced.

That brought the Mets back to the plate in the sixth, hoping to find life and get on the board, but as has been the theme of the game, they went down quietly in order.

Castro came back out to pitch the top of the seventh for the Mets. He quickly got the first two outs of the inning, but then gave up a single to Freeman and walked Riley to get into trouble. A pop out of Swanson got Castro and the Mets out of the inning without letting any other runs across.

It was last chances for the Mets in the seventh. They faced closer Will Smith of the Braves, who replaced Tyler Matzek on the mound for the Braves.

Pillar opened the inning with a fly out to left field, but then Tomas Nido singled to center to put a base runner on for the Mets, bringing up pinch-hitter James McCann who represented the tying run. McCann grounded out into a double to end the inning as the Braves defeated the Mets 2-0 in game one of Monday’s doubleheader.

Game two of Monday’s doubleheader featured Bryse Wilson for the Braves against a pitcher TBD for the Mets.