ATLANTA – The Mets finished with four hits and botched four of the Braves’ balls.

Such a relationship is rarely profitable.

On one night, the Mets didn’t do much right, with their defense being particularly weak in a disappointing 5-1 loss to the Braves on Tuesday at Truist Park in the series opener.

“We didn’t play well,” Carlos Mendoza admitted after the Mets were generously given only one error. “A couple of times we didn’t do anything right.”

The Mets’ problems started in the first game and never really stopped.

The second Atlanta batter of the game, Ozzie Albies, threw a ground ball to Luisangel Acuña that should have been a double play, but Acuna dropped the ball and only managed to get an out at second base.

The error did not cost them a run, but it did cost Luis Severino eight additional pitches as he had to face Matt Olson and Jorge Soler after the supposed third out.

Two innings later, the errors showed up on the scoreboard. The second part of the third inning began with a swinging bunt by Orlando Arcia that landed well down the third base line. The ball was equidistant from Severino and Francisco Alvarez, who both chased after it.

“I said, ‘I got it, I got it,'” Severino said, “and I don’t think he heard me.”

Severino got to it first and, like a quarterback catching the rush, threw it to first base as Alvarez brushed against him. Severino held the throw, allowing the ball to bounce into left field and allow Arcia to reach second base.

Mendoza said the ball was in no man’s land.

“It’s going to be a tough game for Sevy. It’s going to be a tough game for Alvy,” Mendoza said of the only mistake. “We just didn’t get it done. They didn’t get the game done, and that kind of threw them off.”

Michael Harris II followed with an RBI double to put the Mets in a tight spot they couldn’t get out of. Albies then hit a single to right field that Starling Marte caught at home with no chance of an out.

But Marte jumped the cutoff man and reached Alvarez with a late throw that allowed Albies to take second base. That hurt when Ramon Laureano hit a single through the right side, scoring a third run for the Braves.

The final mistake came in the sixth inning of a game in which the Mets never seemed to get going.

Former Yankee Gio Urshela sent a sunken liner into left field with one out, and Brandon Nimmo said he had a “50-50 chance” of catching the ball.

He sprinted forward, decided to take a risky dive and tried to knock the ball down with his body.

Instead, the ball bounced in and off him, rebounding backward and allowing Urshela to advance to second base.

“It was really well hit and had topspin,” Nimmo said. “One of those plays that is pretty difficult in left field. You get caught in the middle.”

On a night when the Mets didn’t score a hit, their fielding didn’t give them a chance.