Mets hold on to top Braves after clutch Juan Soto homer, shaky bullpen performance

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Jul 6, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ATLANTA — There haven’t been many comeback victories for the New York Mets since their playoff run nearly two years ago. Just when it looked like the Mets would finally pull off a ninth-inning comeback, the Atlanta Braves had something to say about that.

Down 3-2 in the top of the ninth with runners on the corners and two outs, Juan Soto uncorked a massive home run to right field. It stayed fair for a three-run shot off closer Raisel Iglesias, and his 19th home run of the season pulled the Mets ahead 5-3. But then closer Devin Williams gave up a leadoff double to Ozzie Albies, and Matt Olson clubbed his second homer of the night to tie the game in the bottom of the frame.

Once again, the Mets overcame themselves for a 7-6 win, splitting the four-game series.

Luis Torrens had the key hit in the top of the 10th, a two-run double with two outs off right-hander Owen Murphy, a 22-year-old making his big league debut. Luke Weaver allowed an unearned run when Michael Harris II scored the automatic runner on a double, and with two outs, Olson was intentionally walked, and Jorge Mateo was unintentionally walked, loading the bases.

Weaver induced a grounder to Mauricio Dubon for the save (one). He also saved his own streak: Weaver hasn’t allowed an earned run in 26 innings.

The Mets are 2-45 when trailing after the eighth inning this season.

It wasn’t the best outing for Freddy Peralta, but it was still an improvement over his last few times out. The right-hander gave up three earned runs over 4 2/3 innings, but only one was earned. An error by first baseman Jared Young in the second inning resulted in two runs. The earned run was a leadoff homer by Olson in the third inning that put Atlanta on top 3-1.

But going fewer than five innings while throwing more than 100 pitches is hardly efficient. Peralta got into bad counts and the Braves drove up his pitch count early in the game. The second-inning error didn’t help. Peralta had two outs and could have been out of it, but he then faced three more hitters.

The notion that a managerial change would change the fundamentals of the Mets was optimistic at best, but by now, it’s clear that this is who the Mets are.

But it’s tougher to say that this is who Peralta is when baseball has seen better from him. An ace in Milwaukee, Peralta has been anything but in New York. In five starts in June, he posted a 6.39 ERA, ending the month with a five-run, four-inning loss against the Toronto Blue Jays. Peralta appeared emotional following that start.

Halfway through the season, it’s still tough to know what to make of Peralta.

Still, it’s not like Peralta has been the beneficiary of much offensive help.

Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez held the Mets to one earned run on three hits, walking two and striking out five over five innings for the Braves. Carson Benge homered off him in the second inning, and scored again in the sixth on a single from Alvarez. The second run came off Didier Fuentes.

Benge went 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI, a walk and two runs. Alvarez went 2 for 4 with an RBI and Bo Bichette went 2 for 5.

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