ATLANTA — The Mets on Wednesday fielded a lineup that contained only three regular starting position players in Francisco Lindor, Dominic Smith and James McCann. Cameron Maybin, acquired Tuesday, hit third and played left field in his first action of the season. You probably could have made your fair share of jokes about this group somewhat resembling a Triple-A lineup.
Despite all of this, the Makeshift Mets looked as if they would once again find a way to win.
The magic didn't continue, though.
In the bottom of the ninth, Ronald Acuña Jr. blasted a walk-off home run off right-hander Jacob Barnes to give Atlanta a 5-4 victory. The Mets are now 20-17.
The Mets were six outs away from their first series sweep in Atlanta since 2016, when the Braves played at Turner Field. Instead, New York will settle for its first series win in this city since 2017.
Hours before the victory, the Mets placed right-hander Taijuan Walker on the injured list. They now have 14 players — four of them starting position players — on the injured list. They've used more organizational depth earlier than they possibly could've envisioned.
The Mets, with all they've gone through, stole victories in the first two games of the series. They were on the cusp of taking a third when Tomás Nido, Tuesday night's hero, dropped a blooper into center field that scored two runs and gave the Mets a one-run lead in a three-run seventh inning.
Then Aaron Loup struggled in the eighth inning, when he allowed the tying run on a run-scoring single hit by William Contreras.
The Mets had a chance to score the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, when Maybin reached on a third strike that got away from the catcher. He stole second and took third on a wild pitch, but McCann and José Peraza made outs.
And on the very next pitch, from Barnes to Acuña, the Braves won the game.
