ATLANTA _ Five years ago Thursday, Matt Harvey had the Citi Field faithful chanting "Harvey's better" as the young righty outdueled Washington's Stephen Strasburg.
The righty was well on his way to his most dominant season as a starter, and a 7-1 win over Washington that night improved him to 4-0 on with a sizzling 0.93 ERA.
Harvey is no longer a flamethrower like in those days, and on this April 13, the righty owns a 6.00 ERA after a poor performance against the Braves.
No longer are their chants proclaiming his superiority. There are now questions about whether he will stay in the rotation beyond next weekend.
Harvey produced his worst outing of the year by allowing six runs in six innings in a 12-4 loss to the Braves on Thursday night at SunTrust Park. Harvey (0-2) has now struggled in three straight starts, and could be odd man out when Jason Vargas returns.
The Mets (13-5) have now lose three of their last four games.
Four games is a small sample size, but the early signs are not positive for Harvey as he attempts to rebound in the final year of his contract. The results are all too familiar to the previous two seasons when he struggled while dealing with injuries.
Harvey immediately put the Mets in a hole Thursday while opening this 10-game road trip, and one of the few positives was that he didn't burn the bullpen. He completed six innings for the first time in 12 starts, having last accomplished the feat on May 28, 2017.
Two singles and a sacrifice fly put the Mets in a 1-0 hole three batters in, and Kurt Suzuki tucked a two-run homer inside the left-field foul pole later in the inning.
Two innings later, Nick Markakis' RBI single pushed the lead to 4-0, and Preston Tucker's two-run double put the Braves up by six runs.
Harvey managed to end his night by retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced.
Since allowing one hit in five scoreless innings in his season debut against Philadelphia, Harvey has posted a 7.88 ERA spanning his last three outings.
He's yielded 14 runs on 25 hits in 16 innings in that stretch.
"I never like to make excuses for anybody, but he's pitched on probably the three most brutal nights for us. It will be nice to see him get out here in a little bit of warmth and see what he can do," Mets manager Mickey Callaway said before the game. "He's battling, I don't think we've seen him have his best stuff, but he's definitely battled through it."
Harvey's struggles come at an inopportune time as the Mets will soon have to clear a rotation spot for lefty Jason Vargas, who is on track for a return next weekend.
One of Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz will be removed from the rotation, and Harvey has performed the poorest of the trio.
The Mets could try Harvey in a bullpen role, but he's never truly pitched as a reliever except for entering in the second inning of a September game last year.
Harvey would have to agree to be sent to the minors.
The righty's next start is scheduled for Wednesday in St. Louis although it's possible the Mets could skip him due to Monday's off day.
Todd Frazier and Adrian Gonzalez each provided solo homers, and relievers Jerry Blevins and Gerson Bautista allowed six runs in two innings.
"I'd like to say everybody can relax and just go out there and pitch their game and nothing would happen. Something has to happen eventually. There is that added pressure," Callaway said of the competition to remain in the starting rotation. "I hope they don't feel it and it affects what they are trying to do. I think we're going to make the best decision for the team. It might not be the guy who is performing the worst. It might be the guy who can go in the bullpen and help us out the most."
