ATLANTA -- One day after being praised for what they had done during the regular season’s first weekend, especially during the sweep of the D-backs, a couple Braves relievers were reminded of the humbling nature of their role.

After the relief corps tossed 14 1/3 scoreless innings in that sweep, Chris Sale said it’s like there are eight closers in the bullpen. The sentiment may still be the same. But even closers can have bad days.

A.J. Minter and Pierce Johnson went from GOATS to goats as the Braves suffered a 8-7 loss to the Mets on Monday night at Truist Park. Minter surrendered the second of Brandon Nimmo’s homers and Johnson surrendered three hits, including DJ Stewart’s go-ahead homer in New York’s three-run eighth.

“It is what it is,” Johnson said. “That’s baseball, right? That’s why we play 162 of these things. It was just one of those days.”

Instead of celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run with their third comeback win in four days, the Braves instead lamented losing an early lead. They chased longtime Atlanta hurler Julio Teheran during a four-run third and Charlie Morton preserved the lead until he surrendered Nimmo’s three-run homer in the fifth.

Like the Braves’ bullpen endured an unexpected rough night, Nimmo also surprised some folks. He entered the game with three hits through his first 29 at-bats of the season.

When Travis d'Arnaud delivered a go-ahead RBI double in the sixth, it looked like the game’s main storyline might have developed. The Braves catcher has haunted the Mets since they tendered him a contract, kept him throughout Spring Training and then released him after just 25 plate appearances (10 games) in 2019.

d’Arnaud battled multiple injuries and missed 2018 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He went 2-for-23 with no extra-base hits before being released. The production wasn’t there. But the question was, why did the Mets choose to keep him around if they were going to give up on him early and force him to find a new employer after the season had started?

d’Arnaud spent a couple days with the Dodgers and then landed on his feet with the Rays. He has hit .320 (31-for-97) with eight doubles and five homers against the Mets since joining the Braves before the 2020 season.

So, many Mets fans might have been holding their breath when d’Arnaud -- with two outs in the bottom of the ninth -- hit a long drive that Starling Marte caught on the warning track in right-center field. A hit would have easily scored Michael Harris II with the tying run.

“It was another resilient effort from the hitters,” Minter said. “You’ve just got to stay in the game and these hitters will give you a chance.”

Marcell Ozuna, who hit his fifth homer in Monday’s loss, and some of the Braves’ other hitters received much of the credit for the big comebacks against the D-backs. But without the bullpen, the Braves wouldn’t have won Friday, when Spencer Strider allowed five runs over four innings, or on Saturday, when Max Fried pitched into the fifth after allowing five first-inning runs.

Minter tossed a scoreless inning on Saturday and entered this series opener having allowed one run and one hit over four innings this year. That one hit was a Paul DeJong solo homer. He has now allowed just two hits over five innings. The latest hit was Nimmo’s one-out home run in the seventh.

“I thought I had my best stuff of the year so far,” Minter said. “I made one bad pitch and Nimmo decided to have the game of his career.”

Johnson tossed a pair of scoreless innings during the D-backs series and even served as the closer when Raisel Iglesias was unavailable on Sunday. He entered Monday having allowed one run and four hits over five innings. But he surrendered Stewart’s homer and then allowed Nimmo to cap his career-best five-RBI night with an RBI single.

“They weren’t going to go the whole season without giving up runs,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s going to happen.”