The Frankie Montas era got off to a scorching start.
Pitching in the hottest game in Citi Field history, Montas hurled five scoreless innings in his long-awaited Mets debut.
But the Mets’ lead melted away the moment Montas left Tuesday night’s game, as a bullpen implosion keyed a 7-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Atlanta tagged three relievers for five runs in a game-turning sixth inning, dealing the Mets (46-34) their 10th loss in 11 games.
Five of those defeats have come against the rival Braves (37-41).
“There’s definitely some frustration,” shortstop Fransciso Lindor said. “Of course, as competitors, as professional athletes, you don’t want to lose, but the guys understand that to get out of where we are today, we have to do it together.”
The Mets led 3-0 going into the sixth, but reliever Huascar Brazobán walked the first three batters of the inning and allowed a sacrifice fly to Ozzie Albies.
Left-hander José Castillo surrendered RBI singles to Eli White and Nick Allen.
And right-hander Reed Garrett gave up a two-out, two-run single to Matt Olson that gave Atlanta a 5-3 lead.
The Mets’ bullpen has a 6.60 ERA during the 11-game slide.
“They’re not going to be perfect for 162 [games],” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Just like position players offensively, just like starters go through it, relievers are gonna [struggle at times].”
Offensively, the Mets finished with five hits, including only two through the first eight innings. They are averaging 3.1 runs per game over their last 11.
“We all understand in this room that we’re gonna go through things like this,” said Lindor, who went 0-for-5. “We’ve got to learn from it. We have to play better.”
The Mets’ cold streak has overlapped with an extreme heat wave in New York. Tuesday’s game had a first-pitch temperature of 97 degrees — the highest for a Mets game in Queens since a 98-degree scorcher at Shea Stadium on Aug. 9, 2001.
The heat didn’t dispirit Montas, whom the Mets signed in the offseason to a two-year, $34 million contract.
A spring-training lat strain delayed Montas’ first start by three months, but the right-hander was in midseason form Tuesday, deploying a five-pitch mix that included a four-seam fastball and a sinker that both maxed out at 98 mph.
“I thought he was good,” Mendoza said. “I thought the ball was coming out well.”
Montas had struggled in six minor-league rehab starts, going 0-3 with a 12.05 ERA, but he looked sharp over 80 pitches on Tuesday. He recorded five strikeouts, including two against Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr.
“When I was in the minors, I was just trying to get my pitches in, get my pitch count [up], work on my pitches, and try to get ready for when I got an opportunity up here,” Montas said. “I was just trying to go out there and do my job, get people out.”
Montas was in line for the win when he exited Tuesday’s start, as Jeff McNeil’s sacrifice fly and Brett Baty’s two-run single fueled a three-run fourth inning against Braves starter Spencer Strider.
But the Braves scored seven runs in four innings against the Mets’ bullpen, with Olson adding an eighth-inning RBI double against Richard Lovelady and Austin Riley doing the same against Dedniel Núñez.
Since erupting for seven homers, 11 runs and 15 hits in Saturday’s win in Philadelphia — which snapped a seven-game losing streak — the Mets have totaled seven runs and 15 hits in the last three games, all losses.
The Braves also beat the Mets on Monday to open the four-game series, which continues Wednesday night.
“If it were to happen, this is not that bad of a moment. However, we don’t want it to happen,” Lindor said of the June swoon.
“It happened. But if we started the season and we go 4-15, it would look completely different to how it looked now. We’re still in the mix. We’re still fighting. We’re grinding. We are one week away from looking completely different.”
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