One look at the Mets’ starting lineup Tuesday was all it took to measure the degree of difficulty this team faced against the surging Braves.

The ugly numbers at the bottom were .210, .216, .200 and .167, representing the batting averages of Dominic Smith, Eduardo Escobar, Travis Jankowski and Patrick Mazeika.

Such is life for the Mets as they await returns from Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte and perhaps a trade to bolster the lineup. McNeil is on paternity leave and Marte has been sidelined with left groin tightness.

An anemic showing at the plate, coupled with two home runs allowed meant a 4-1 loss for the Mets at Truist Park that evened this ballyhooed series between the NL East rivals. The Braves returned within 1 ½ games of the division lead, a night after Max Scherzer’s seven-inning gem carried the Mets to victory.

“The Braves’ pitching staff is really good,” said Francisco Lindor, who drove in the Mets’ only run with a triple in the fifth. “They executed today and the times they missed we didn’t capitalize on it.”

DJ LeMahieu has won the Yankees many a game over the last four years with his stellar fielding and consistency at the plate. However, on his 34th birthday, LeMahieu gave the Yanks a boost with his legs en route to a 7-6 win in 10 innings over the Reds Wednesday night.

Starting the bottom of the 10th as the automatic runner on second, LeMahieu was primed to be the winning run with the heart of the order coming up. Following an Aaron Judge strikeout and an intentional walk of Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton stepped into the box looking to send an exuberant Yankees crowd home happy — but he never got the chance.

After Stanton fell behind in the count 0-2, Reds reliever Alexis Díaz bounced a slider allowing LeMahieu to get to third base. On the very next pitch, with Yankee Stadium still buzzing with anticipation, Díaz spiked another slider. LeMahieu immediately took off down the line, with fans roaring as he slid into home plate with the winning run before being mobbed by his teammates. Even a usually reserved LeMahieu couldn’t hold back a smile as he was showered with high fives.

NY Mets pitcher Max Scherzer dominated the opposition while his Braves counterpart, Max Fried, was lucky to survive the early innings. 

With Scherzer in charge the Mets’ wasted opportunities weren’t so pronounced. The right-hander’s seven strong innings led a 4-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 42,925, pushing the Mets’ NL East-lead over the Braves back to 2 ½ games. 

The Mets (54-33) still have 14 games remaining against the Braves before the regular season concludes. Scherzer offered a reminder on this night of why team owner Steve Cohen was willing to give him a three-year contract worth $130 million last offseason. 

Scherzer didn’t dent until the seventh, when Austin Riley crushed a two-out homer that pulled the Braves within 2-1. The ensuing batter, Marcell Ozuna, doubled on a hanging slider before Scherzer struck out Eddie Rosario and pumped his fist in celebration. Before Riley’s homer, Scherzer had retired 12 straight batters and 20 of 21 overall in the game.

Mets infielder Luis Guillorme smashed a leadoff eighth-inning homer, and Adam Ottavino and Edwin Diaz combined to pitch the final two innings scoreless.