NEW YORK -- J.D. Martinez might have been the only person at Citi Field not thinking about the obvious thing Saturday when he came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Braves, New York’s tormentors over the past three decades or so, were at it again. Max Fried and two relievers had no-hit the Mets over the game’s first 8 2/3 innings. All that stood between them and their first no-hitter in 30 years was Martinez.

What happened next, Martinez said, did not exactly feel like relief, but it at least spared the Mets the indignity of being no-hit in their own ballpark. Martinez hit a solo homer off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, providing the final margin -- nothing less, nothing more -- in a 4-1 Mets defeat.

“We’re still losing, 4-1,” Martinez said. “It sucks. I wish I would have hit that last night. It would have tied the game up. But here we are.”

Not since 2015, when then-Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer no-hit them in the penultimate game of the regular season, have the Mets endured this type of scare. Whatever flaws the Mets have, the Braves have a way of exposing them.

So it was Saturday, when Fried set down his first eight batters in order, walked a pair, then retired 11 more in a row. Not until the seventh inning did Fried appear to labor, but the Mets at least took enough advantage of that lapse to drive up his pitch count on a series of long at-bats -- including one from Martinez that ended in a sharp line fly ball, requiring a running catch by Michael Harris II.

Fried exited after seven innings and 109 pitches. Joe Jiménez pitched the eighth and Iglesias took command of the ninth, at least until Martinez stepped to the plate. The first pitch he saw was a thigh-high fastball. Martinez didn’t miss it, redirecting the ball 386 feet to right-center field.

“We didn’t want to get no-hit, but in that situation, in that moment, I’m just thinking about my plan and my game and what I’m trying to do in that at-bat off Iglesias, really,” Martínez said. “You can’t get caught up in all that. Then you start putting all this excess pressure on yourself. For what? You get no-hit? Who cares. Tomorrow’s another day.”

An announced crowd of 38,919 in Queens certainly cared, cheering far more loudly than usual for an essentially meaningless homer with two outs in the ninth. Martinez’s teammates also responded with a spirited rally, going as far as to bring the tying run to the plate against Iglesias. But Brett Baty lined out to end things, leaving the Mets with nothing more than the solace of avoiding what would have been the first combined no-hitter against them in franchise history.

Thanks to Martinez, none of that ultimately came to pass. No Scherzer-type stuff on this night. No Chris Heston or Sandy Koufax vibes. Just another defeat.

“At the end of the day, we lost the game,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.

Some positives did exist for the Mets, who watched rookie Christian Scott deliver another quality start in his Citi Field debut, and Martinez -- who entered the day with a .635 OPS -- hit the ball hard three times in four at-bats. Those types of things will matter a great deal if they ultimately become trends.

Saturday, though, they simply represented consolation prizes.

“I was so happy for J.D. to come through there at the end, last batter before possibly being no-hit,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “I definitely wanted it for the team and for him, and just glad that he could leave the ballpark here finally and get on a roll hopefully. Hopefully, it will be the start of a lot more to come.”