On a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon at Citi Field, the Mets bats were ice cold as they lost to the Braves, 3-1 the final.

Sean Manaea put together his best start in quite some time, but the Mets offense never really got going against a very strong Braves pitching staff.

The Mets record now sits at 31-39, a handful of games out of an NL Wild Card place.

Here are the takeaways...

-- The Braves opened the scoring in the second inning when Eli White laced a two-out double, bringing home Matt Olson all the way from first base. Despite the fact that White moved up to third base, Sean Manaea stranded him there by getting Ha-Seong Kim to pop out and end the inning with the score 1-0 in Atlanta's favor.

-- Vidal Bruján made his first appearance for the Mets since May 31st against the Miami Marlins, and it was a bit of a revenge game for the shortstop, as he was designated for assignment by the Braves this past offseason.

-- Carson Benge turned a strikeout looking into a walk in the third inning with a successful challenge of the umpire's call. He was left stranded after Bo Bichette's hard hit line drive to left field was caught.

-- Eli White got the better of Manaea once again in the fourth inning, this time clobbering a solo shot over the left-field fence to double Atlanta's lead (and his RBI tally for the day).

-- Juan Soto opened the fourth inning with a single, but Mark Vientos grounded into a double play and Marcus Semien ended the inning with another groundout.

-- In the sixth inning, Carson Benge got on his horse and flashed the leather with a running, leaping catch on the warning track, hanging on as he crashed into the center-field wall to rob Ozzie Albies of an extra-base hit. An inning later, Benge took away a bloop hit to shallow center off the bat of Austin Riley with a spectacular diving catch.

-- Bo Bichette continued his hot streak at the plate with a multi-hit game, notching New York's first extra-base hit of the day in the sixth inning with a one-out double. In something of an early hook, Braves manager Walt Weiss decided to pull Pérez despite the fact that he had thrown just 71 pitches and had been pitching very well.

-- Mark Vientos put the Mets on the board with a two-out single off of lefty Dylan Lee, bringing Bichette home and cutting Atlanta's lead to 2-1. Pérez was tagged with the earned run, meaning his final line read one run, four hits, and one walk allowed through 5.1 innings. He struck out four batters.

-- For the first time since September of 2024 (Game 3 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies), Manaea pitched for six full innings. He allowed four hits and two runs, both earned, across 84 pitches. He struck out six Braves batters and walked none. His command was excellent all afternoon, tunneling his sweeper and four-seam fastball very well, and his velocity was a noticeable tick up across the board.

-- 20-year-old highly touted Braves prospect Didier Fuentes struck out the side in the eighth inning, sitting down Mets hitters Francisco Alvarez, pinch-hitting Jared Young, and MJ Melendez in order.

-- Austin Warren relieved Manaea in the seventh inning, and after Braves right fielder Eli White doubled yet again, Warren bounced back to strand him, retiring former Met Dominic Smith and Ha-Seong Kim.

-- Manager Carlos Mendoza trusted Warren to handle the eighth inning as well. However, after striking out two Braves batters, the righty reliever hung a slider slider to lefty slugger Michael Harris II who promptly hammered a solo homer to right field, making it 3-1 Braves. He finished the inning without allowing any further damage to the scoreboard.

-Daniel Duarte sat down the side in the top of the ninth for the Mets.

-- Juan Soto led off the bottom of the ninth with a double. Initially, it looked like a home run, but the umpires determined that the ball never left the ballpark and sent Soto back to second base after a lengthy review. Braves closer Raisel Iglesias shut the door, striking out Vientos, walking Semien, but then getting Alvarez to ground into a double play.

Game MVP: Eli White

White was 3-for-4 with two RBI, a solo homer and two doubles. Typically not known for his bat, the speedy outfielder had an outstanding day at the plate for the Braves.

Here are the takeaways...

Game MVP: Eli White

Highlights:

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