ATLANTA -- Coming into Atlanta, home to a quarter century of horrors for the Mets, was never going to be easy. ¡°It¡¯s going to be a story,¡± was how manager Carlos Mendoza put it before Tuesday¡¯s series opener. Considering all the Braves have done to the Mets over the years, upending their entire season as recently as 2022, this much was inevitable.

The only way to quiet the narrative, Mendoza noted, would be ¡°to get it done on the field.¡±

¡°It¡¯s right there,¡± he added. ¡°Don¡¯t try to do too much. Just keep doing what we¡¯re doing. The rest will take care of itself.¡±

Only a few hours after Mendoza spoke those words, his team was unable to embody them. The Mets did not apply much pressure at the plate. They committed uncharacteristic defensive mistakes. And they lost a crucial game, 5-1, to the Braves, to slim their margin for error in the National League Wild Card race.

New York now leads Atlanta by just a single game with five to play. One more loss would give the season series to the Braves, awarding them a crucial tiebreaker in the event that both clubs finish with the same record. Two more losses could mean the Mets no longer have control of their own destiny, unless the Diamondbacks lose enough to give it back to them. Either way, two more losses represents the danger zone. Two more losses could require some other team to give the Mets help.

They never led in Tuesday¡¯s opener, falling behind on a three-run Braves rally in the third. The Mets committed two defensive miscues in the inning -- the first when Francisco Alvarez and Luis Severino nearly collided trying to field a swinging bunt, resulting in a Severino throwing error, and the other when Starling Marte overthrew the cutoff man on a near-certain RBI single. Both resulted in an extra base for the Braves, who also rapped out four hits that inning.

¡°This is a good team,¡± Severino said. ¡°That¡¯s why they¡¯re in the position they are. I wish I could have done a better job.¡±

Michael Harris II and Marcell Ozuna later added solo homers, and -- in a symbol of the night -- even steady Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo was guilty of a defensive misplay, allowing a Gio Urshela hit to squirt under his legs for a double.

The Mets didn¡¯t score themselves until the seventh, when Mark Vientos hit a solo homer off an otherwise spotless Spencer Schwellenbach.

¡°There wasn¡¯t a whole lot of energy to build on,¡± Nimmo said. ¡°Mark did great to be able to get that home run, but there just wasn¡¯t a whole lot of positives.¡±

What the Mets must do now is avoid one loss from spiraling. Yes, they are scheduled to face NL Cy Young favorite Chris Sale on Wednesday, but Sale¡¯s velocity was down in his last start and there¡¯s at least some uncertainty about how effective he¡¯ll be. Yes, the offense has scored just three runs in its last 17 innings, but Francisco Lindor could return to the lineup as soon as Wednesday. Yes, the Mets¡¯ Wild Card lead is down to a single game, but Arizona¡¯s struggles have opened a potential back door for them to make the playoffs if all else fails.

¡°We¡¯ve still got a chance to play well,¡± Mendoza said. ¡°We didn¡¯t play well. We didn¡¯t make a play a couple of times. We missed the cutoff man one time. We¡¯ve got to turn the page. I know it¡¯s going to be a story because it¡¯s here in Atlanta, and we¡¯ve got to go out and do it.

¡°We¡¯re still in a position where we¡¯ve got a chance to win a series here, and that¡¯s what we¡¯ll go out and do.¡±