ATLANTA — The Mets’ agonizing stretch continued in Atlanta on Wednesday night.

It has shown itself in a few brutal forms in a pair of games against the Braves. There has been a painstaking collapse, sloppy defense and then a seemingly indomitable pitching matchup.

One night after seeing a three-run lead erased in a 10-inning loss, the Mets fell behind early and their offense was nowhere to be found against Chris Sale in a 5-0 loss to the Braves on Wednesday night at Truist Park.

Through two games in their 10-game stretch against the National League East, the Mets are off to the worst possible start. The defeat saw their losing streak stretch to a season-long five games while the Phillies got back within one game in the division with a win over the Marlins.

For the Mets, the sense of urgency remains the same.

“We did a really good job the first two months and a half of playing things through,” Francisco Lindor said. “This is the time of year that we’re going through it. Every team goes through it. We got to continue to push each other. We got to dig deep and continue to climb.

“At the end of the day, everybody here wants it. We all understand it’s a long year. We’re gonna deal with adversity. Put your head down and work as hard as you can to get back to the winning side and then don’t look back.”

Wednesday’s loss led the Braves to take the first series between the two teams on Wednesday night. The Mets will look to salvage at least a victory in the finale at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday night.

Chris Sale keeps down Mets offense in latest dominant start

The sold-out crowd at Truist Park rose to their feet as Sale jogged out to the mound for the top of the ninth inning with 102 pitches on his ledger.

The Mets would have liked to see anyone else on the mound for the Braves.

The defending National League Cy Young winner completely flummoxed the Mets in his 15th start of the season. The lefty only allowed five hits — all singles — and did not allow a Mets runner to move past second base in the start. He finished one out away from a complete-game shutout, allowing a bloop single to Brandon Nimmo on his 116th pitch of his outing.

“You got to give him credit. He was on tonight,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Throughout the course of the year, you’re going to be facing guys like that and today he was on. You tip your cap, you come back tomorrow and get ready for (Spencer) Strider.”

Sale held Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso all without a hit. Alonso struck out three times and Lindor was sent down on strikes twice.Sale punctuated his own sterling start with a diving play to the left of the mound to rob Soto of a potential infield single for the opening out of the ninth.

Sale’s slider was particularly treacherous for the Mets. The Braves lefty threw it the majority of the time, producing nine whiffs and four of his seven strikeouts.

“It looks like it’s coming from the second baseman,” Lindor said. “Hats off to him today. He executed, he had a good game plan and he beat us.”

Paul Blackburn tagged early in return to rotation

After a pair of rickety outings out of the bullpen since his return from injury earlier this month, Paul Blackburn will have a fair runway back in the rotation following injuries to both Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill.

Blackburn’s return to the first inning proved to be more unsteady than he would have hoped.

On the first pitch in the opening frame, Ronald Acuña Jr. tagged a 419-foot home run to center field. Blackburn faced three batters without recording an out as Alex Verdugo singled and Austin Riley drew a walk. Both runners moved over on a ground ball and the Braves grew their lead to 3-0 as Luis Torrens fielded a ball in the dirt with his mask and then Marcell Ozuna knocked a sacrifice fly to center field.

“I felt like early on, I was kind of fighting myself out there a little bit. As the game went on, I feel like I kind of got into a good rhythm and start to get the feel for my pitches back. It’s tough when you go out there and kind of give them a three-spot to start, especially when the other guys on the mound is pretty good.

In the next inning, Blackburn worked around a leadoff triple and a two-out walk with three balls in the infield, including a slick diving catch by Jeff McNeil to rob Nick Allen of a hit.

After a perfect third inning, Blackburn finished his night with 3⅔ innings pitched and 74 pitches thrown. He gave up a double to Ozzie Albies in the fourth inning, who would later score on a wild pitch. Blackburn finished with four runs (three earned) allowed on four hits and two walks while striking out two.

The Mets starting rotation has combined to allow 16 runs during their five-game losing streak.

“We’ve kind of run into a rut here the last week and mindset-wise I feel like guys are exactly the same as the beginning of the year when I feel like we were winning every single day,” Blackburn said. “I think the biggest thing is just keeping on that track. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Just keep pushing forward.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Losing streak extends to five games in hapless loss to Braves