Sean Manaea pitches well in first start, but Mets fall to Braves, 3-1

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Jun 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Making his first start of the season Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Braves, left-hander Sean Manaea gave the Mets a chance to win. That was a victory in and of itself. A veteran left-hander who struggled so much to start the season that the Mets were practically avoiding pitching him, Manaea scattered two runs over six innings for a quality start, his first since September 2024.

The Mets were unable to give him enough run support for a win. They fell, 3-1, to the NL East leaders at Citi Field to even the series at 1-1, but finding a viable starter for the rotation might be a victory itself.

Manaea (1-2) was given his first start of the season after putting in serious work to fix whatever it was that had plagued him since last season. After an injury-filled season in 2025, there was speculation that he was still pitching injured in 2026, though he has continued to say his body and his arm feel good.

The team’s patience with Manaea paid off. Mobility work helped him get the velocity on his fastball back up into the low 90s, and the reintroduction of the cutter gave him a pitch to throw for strikes.

But it was his sweeper that got swings and misses Saturday. A deadly Atlanta lineup whiffed on it eight times, and half of his six strikeouts came from the pitch.

Manaea gave up a run in the second inning, pitched around a single in the third, and allowed a two-out bomb to outfielder Eli White in the fourth. He recovered well, retiring the final seven hitters he faced. He finished with six innings pitched and two earned runs, with six strikeouts and no walks on 84 pitches.

The Mets (31-39) got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, but Michael Harris II took right-hander Austin Warren deep in the top of the eighth. It wasn’t much, but it was enough of an insurance run for the Braves (46-24) to give closer Raisel Iglesias some breathing room.

Juan Soto drove a double off Iglesias in the bottom of the ninth. Leading off the inning, the slugger drove a change-up 363 feet to left field, with the ball hitting the top of the wall. A fan reached over the railing for it, forcing a lengthy umpire review. It was initially ruled a home run, but after the review, it was called a double.

Iglesias then struck out Mark Vientos and walked Marcus Semien to put two on with one out. Francisco Alvarez grounded into a game-ending double play. Iglesias converted his 14th save.

Bo Bichette, who drove in six runs and hit two homers in Friday night’s win, went 2 for 4 with a double. Soto also finished 2 for 4 with a double.

All season, the Mets have struggled to hit left-handed pitching, and it was no different Saturday against left-hander Martin Perez. Another veteran southpaw, the 35-year-old Perez (5-3) held the Mets to one earned run on four hits, walked one and struck out four over 5 1/3 innings in the win.