Mets fall in 9th on pinch-hit home run

ATLANTA — Charlie Culberson had a good feeling after he fouled off a couple of pitches from Seth Lugo.

“When you get a pinch-hit at-bat, you have to be ready to hit, especially if it’s somewhere close to the zone,” he said. “Luckily enough I got one over the plate and put a good swing on it.”

Culberson’s pinch-hit, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets in the first game of a day-night doubleheader on Monday.

Lugo (1-1) gave up Nick Markakis’ sacrifice fly in the eighth and walked Johan Camargo to begin the ninth before Culberson took him deep.

Devin Mesoraco gave the Mets a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth with a solo homer off Shane Carle (3-1), but Lugo’s performance wiped out seven strong innings from Jacob deGrom as the Mets lost their fourth straight and fell to .500 for the first time this season.

New York’s bullpen has a 10.65 ERA over its past four games and just 15 saves in 24 chances overall this season. Mets relievers dropped to 10-23 when they allow a run.

“We got exactly what we wanted out of deGrom,” New York manager Mickey Callaway said. “We just didn’t get what we wanted out of Lugo.”

Rain caused a 34-minute delay in middle of the sixth inning.

DeGrom pitched six scoreless innings before allowing Tyler Flowers’ homer to make it 2-1 in the seventh. Throwing a seasonhigh 115 pitches, he allowed five hits and three walks and struck out eight, lowering his NL-leading ERA to 1.52.

DeGrom has given up just two runs over his past 401⁄3 innings, a span of seven starts in which he has a 0.45 ERA.

He pitched out of a jam after Flowers homered. The Braves had runners on first and third with no outs, but didn’t score.

“I didn’t want to come out of that game,” deGrom said. “I’ve been fortunate and able to pitch out of jams this season and I felt like I was going to be able to get through that inning.”