New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom suffered another hard-luck loss Friday night, when Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies doubled on consecutive pitches in the fifth inning to snap a tie and lift the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 win at Citi Field.

With their fifth straight win, the Braves ensured they would maintain their lead in the race for the National League's second wild card while remaining no worse than a half-game behind division-leading Philadelphia in the NL East. The Mets have lost four straight and six of seven.

Johan Camargo gave the Braves the lead with a solo homer in the second off deGrom, who helped his own cause by delivering a game-tying RBI single in the third. But with two outs in the fifth, Acuna doubled to right-center for his second hit of the game and trotted home on Albies' double, which landed just fair down the left field line.

That was enough for Anibal Sanchez and a trio relievers, who combined to two-hit the Mets on another night in which they provided meager support to their All-Star right-hander. New York has scored just 55 runs with deGrom on the mound this season, including 29 in his last 15 starts and nine in his last seven outings.

DeGrom (5-7) allowed six hits and one walk while striking out nine over eight innings as his major league-leading ERA rose from 1.82 to 1.85. He went at least eight innings without recording a win for the fourth time in his last five starts, a stretch in which he is 0-3 with a 1.85 ERA. DeGrom has gone at least seven innings without recording a win 12 times this season. No one else in baseball has six such starts.

Sanchez (6-3) allowed both Mets hits and their run in the third, when Amed Rosario hit a leadoff double and scored on deGrom's one-out single. He issued two walks while striking out a season-high nine over six innings. The 34-year-old, who signed with the Braves as a free agent in March, lowered his ERA to 2.89.

Dan Winkler and Jesse Biddle tossed an inning apiece before A.J. Minter earned his eighth save in the ninth, when he worked around Camargo's two-out error on a Todd Frazier grounder.

--Field Level Media