Atlanta, for its part, is still waiting on Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach to work back from their own arm injuries, so the rotation depth Elder was supposed to anchor has been thinner than the Braves would like all summer.
The Mets didn't wait around. New York plated 5 in the first inning and tacked on 1 more in the second before Atlanta had recorded more than a handful of outs, and that was effectively the ballgame. The Braves clawed back with 2 in the fourth and 1 in the fifth to make it interesting, but New York's bullpen — shorthanded as it is — closed the door, and an insurance run in the ninth put it away, 8-5.
This is exactly the kind of win the Mets needed given the season they're having. At 52-67 they're not sniffing a playoff race, but they've won 4 of their last 5, including a 3-game gauntlet through Pittsburgh that ended with an 11-1 blowout. The Braves, meanwhile, sit at 71-47 and are still very much alive atop the division, but a game like this — dropping a series opener at home to a losing club — is the kind of stumble they can't afford to make a habit of.
Elder will get another look at this Mets lineup before the series is out, and Atlanta will want a cleaner version of him next time. For now, New York heads to the finale with the mound presence advantage and a lineup that's clearly seeing the ball well, injuries and all.