These Braves, despite their issues, continue to torment the Mets

Tuesday had the makings of another depressing Braves loss, thanks to an anemic offense. They were trounced for five innings by Frankie Montas, who was making his season debut after posting a 12.05 ERA in six minor-league rehab outings.

Yet, less than three outs following Montas’ departure, the Braves held a multi-run lead. They scored five runs in the sixth and ended up winning 7-4.

It sure feels like the Braves have a mental edge on the Mets, against whom they’re 28-10 in their past 38 meetings. Of course, the Braves would never acknowledge something like that even if there was a touch of truth to it.

“Nah, that’s a really good team over there,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “That’s a very talented group, guys who play hard and play the right way. We love squaring off against them, whether it’s here or there. No (mental) edge.”

The Mets came to their series at Truist Park last week holding the National League’s best record (45-27, and that’s just after getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays). They’re now a reeling club that’s lost each of its matchups with the Braves during a 1-10 stretch.

The pressure is quickly building in imported star Juan Soto’s debut season with the club. The Mets looked like World Series contenders until recently, even though most admitted the rotation would regress to the mean. New York is looking like a team that needs to make multiple upgrades by the trade deadline.

The Braves have played a substantial role in the Mets’ downturn. They’re tormenting them in a variety of ways. They’ve beaten them in extra innings. They’ve beaten them with offense. They’ve beaten them with pitching brilliance. They’ve beaten them with rallies.

“We’re just playing good baseball against them,” said manager Brian Snitker, who otherwise has spent much of the past three months discussing his club’s poor play.

Watching these teams face off, one wouldn’t think the Mets are eight games ahead in the standings (it’s worth noting, though, New York was 14 games ahead of the Braves before this recent stretch).

The Braves are helping their cause in the wild-card race because they — to put it succinctly — “own” the Mets, a team that hasn’t finished ahead of them in the NL East since 2016.

“I don’t think (there’s an explanation),” Olson said. “You always love playing these games. Division rival, good team, somebody who’s one of the best teams in baseball. You get up for that.”

Even if the Braves drop the next two games in Queens, they would’ve taken a split entering the week. They gladly would have taken a 5-2 mark against the Mets over this seven-meetings-in-10-days span. Taking three of four here — or a four-game sweep, if one wants to really be greedy — would be a resounding success.

Now, the Braves just need to channel whatever they find against the Mets when they play everyone else. They’re 37-41, six games back of the third wild card with seven nondivision-leading teams ahead of them in the NL standings.

“It’s absolutely something that needs to be done,” Olson said of taking advantage of lesser opponents. “I don’t think we’re changing our approach or the way we go about each game or opponent. You play a game here against a division rival, or back home, you get a little extra juice for sure. That last series at home (versus the Mets) was a fun one. We’re coming to the yard and we’re attacking every team the same.”