Braves rally late but lose to Mets

Mauricio Dubón lined a single to left moving Harris to third then taking second on the throw back to the infield. Dominic Smith was the final hope, but he struck out swinging against Mets closer Devin Williams (S, 13).

“I think we’ve done it a couple times this year, maybe not to that extent,” Baldwin said of the Braves’ last gasp. “That whole inning it felt like whoever was up, it felt like they were going to something special. I think that’s kind of what our team has being this year.

“I think everyone in this (clubhouse) had the utmost confidence in (Smith) that last AB, and he got some tough pitches and it didn’t work out. But having the confidence in everyone in the lineup to go out there and produce - there was a lot of really good at-bats that last inning and I definitely think that can carry some momentum going forward.”

The two teams are scheduled to play the finale of the series at 7:15 p.m. Monday. A Braves victory would give them their 20th series win of the season.

With Martín Pérez on the mound to start the game for the Braves on Sunday, Francisco Lindor led off the afternoon by hitting a ball to third that Austin Riley booted. Lindor would later score on a one-out single to left by Bo Bichette.

The Braves responded immediately with a three-spot in the first. Harris ripped a two-run single up the middle, went to third on an errant pickoff throw by Mets starter Nolan McLean and scored on Mauricio Dubón’s groundball single up the middle past a drawn-in infield.

A.J. Ewing got one of those runs back in the second by hitting a solo home run off a 3-2 sinker from Peréz. Ewing’s fifth homer of the season went 408 feet into the Braves’ bullpen in right field.

Lindor then tied the game on an RBI single to left, and Juan Soto plated two more with a single to right that put the Mets up 5-3.

Both pitchers found their footing from there, and Pérez (6-6) had retired eight in a row when Soto led off the fifth by lining a 1-0 sinker right back to the mound that caught Pérez flush on the left forearm. That ended Pérez’s day after 4 1/3 innings, five runs (four earned), six hits, two walks and 77 pitches.

The Braves were calling Pérez’s left arm injury a contusion and manager Walt Weiss said X-rays on Pérez were negative, though further evaluation was ongoing Sunday.

Minus the first inning, McLean (6-5) dazzled Sunday through six-plus innings. He recorded 13 outs against the final 15 hitters he faced with Braves shortstop Jim Jarvis, who got aboard via an error in the fifth, and Riley, who began the seventh with a fly ball to shallow right that fell to the grass, the only batters to reach in that stretch.

“His stuff’s really good,” Weiss said of McLean. “He got in trouble sometimes this year with the walks, but he’s tightened that up. The stuff has always been top-shelf, and he’s been throwing strikes. It’s a good arm.”

Tyrone Taylor gave the Mets (37-53) some insurance with a solo home run off Braves reliever Carlos Carrasco in the ninth. Bo Bichette put the game out of reach with a two-out, bases-loaded double off the wall in center field and, for good measure, Jared Young’s single to left plated two more.

That turned out to be the game-winner.

“We had ‘Dee Dee’ (Fuentes) for one (inning) and ‘Iggy’ (Raisel Iglesias) for one (inning). If you don’t go ‘Cookie’ (Carrasco) in the seventh and eighth and you use Fuentes in the eighth, ‘Iggy’ in the ninth, tie game, you’re out of pitching,” Weiss said. “We replay that game 100 more times it’s played out the same as far the bullpen. There’s no other options right there.

“Some days you can keep chasing games and you’re equipped to do that. Some days you’re not. We could chase it for seven innings, that’s what we did. And they did a great job keeping it a two-run game through seven. And at that point we’re out of those high-leverage bullets.”

Sunday’s game was delayed by one hour and 47 minutes because of rain.