David Peterson’s implosion, cold bats force Mets to settle for split with Braves

Everything was going so well for the Mets – apparently too well.

They were crushing the Braves. Kodai Senga was distributing.

Citi Field looked like a big party.

It was Friday night.

Then came the top of the sixth inning of a lopsided game.

Senga, the staff ace making his first start of the season, suffered a season-ending left calf strain while trying to avoid a pop-up in the infield.

They won that game, but lost the next two narrowly, having to settle for a disappointing draw.

The good vibes quickly faded. Instead, the Braves left Queens with momentum after such a mediocre start to the weekend.

David Peterson’s implosion in the fourth inning put the Mets in a hole, and new reliever Ryne Stanek made a poor first impression.

The suddenly frigid offense remained comatose in a depressing 9-2 loss, and had gone 20 innings without a run before Pete Alonso’s two-run shot in the eighth.

“It’s not a good feeling to lose this game,” Peterson said. “But I know we’ll learn from it and get ready for tomorrow’s game against the Twins. We’ve done a good job of learning from our wins and losses and moving on.”

In four games against the Braves, the Mets (55-50) were 4 of 24 with runners in scoring position and 1 of 9 on Sunday.

Of the 13 runs scored in the series, 11 came on home runs. Braves pitchers, who ranked third in baseball in earned run average (3.48), shut them down.

The Mets couldn’t even take advantage of starter Reynaldo Lopez, who left the game after the third inning with right forearm stiffness.

“They’re a good pitching staff. Their starting pitchers are good, their bullpen is really good — there’s a lot of depth. It’s going to happen,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We created some traffic today, especially in the first three innings against Lopez. We just couldn’t get that big hit.”

Peterson cruised through the first three innings without issue, allowing just a single to Austin Riley. But he led off the fourth by walking Riley, and the outing fell apart from there.

Marcell Ozuna hit a soft single to right field and Matt Olson crushed a hanging slider 426 feet, giving the Braves a 3-0 lead.

Peterson, who lost control of the strike zone, was lucky to get out of the inning with only one extra run to score. It took him 40 pitches to get through the inning.

“I walked Riley to start the inning, which is not ideal. Then Ozuna hit the bloop and I didn’t throw a single pitch to Olson,” said Peterson (5-1), who suffered his first loss of the season in his 10th start. “That’s kind of how it ended.”

Meanwhile, the Mets squandered scoring opportunities. They squandered doubles in the top of the second, third and fifth innings.

Their best chance came in the second, with two men on base and no outs for the lead in the batting order.

But the Mets couldn’t get anything going. They went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position through the first four innings.

They finally got a strike with a man in scoring position in the fifth, but Tyrone Taylor was thrown out on Ben Gamel’s single.

Any thoughts of a comeback ended in the seventh, when Stanek was lit up by a pair of home runs by Orlando Arcia and Riley.

The right-hander has now allowed runs in four straight outings, including three with his former team, the Mariners. Jake Diekman added fuel to the fire, allowing a two-run hit to Ramon Laureano in the eighth inning.

The loudest cheers came in the bottom of the eighth inning, when newcomer Jesse Winker came in to bat in relief. He was quickly knocked out and heard some boos.

It was that kind of day – and weekend, really, since Friday night – for the Mets.