New York @ Atlanta preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 10, 2016 ) NY Mets 3, Atlanta 4

There have been plenty of experts who questioned why the Atlanta Braves would hold onto Freddie Freeman during their rebuild, but as the Braves host the New York Mets in the finale of a three-game series Sunday, their first baseman has shown he is a franchise cornerstone. Freeman brings a 16-game hitting streak and a career-best 32-game on-base streak into Sunday, showing why the Braves had turned down every trade request for a player signed through the 2021 season.

Freeman, who turns 27 Monday and started the season 2-for-25, has at least one base hit in 37 of his past 38 games, hitting .359 in that stretch. New York’s six-game winning streak ended with Atlanta’s 4-3 victory in 10 innings Saturday, knocking the Mets one-half game behind St. Louis for the final National League wild-card spot. New York’s Kelly Johnson, acquired from the Braves for the second consecutive year in a June 8 trade, is batting .280 with nine homers and 22 RBIs in 68 games since the deal. Left fielder Yoenis Cespedes blasted his 29th homer in Saturday’s loss, his 46th homer in 170 games with the Mets dating to last season.

TV: 1:35 p.m. ET, SNY (New York), FSN South (Atlanta)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Mets RH Seth Lugo (3-2, 2.38 ERA) vs. Braves RH Williams Perez (2-2, 5.47)

A 34th-round draft pick in 2011, Lugo has been a revelation for New York during its late-season surge, winning three starts in a row. The 26-year-old held Washington to one run on six hits with four strikeouts in seven innings Sept. 4, and has surrendered only three runs on 13 hits in 18 innings during his winning streak. Lugo, who made nine relief appearances starting with his major-league debut July 1 before joining the rotation, has a 2.19 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in four starts.

Perez’s return from the disabled list unraveled in the third inning Tuesday at Washington, the 25-year-old giving up six runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings in his first start in three months. He was 2-2 with a 4.62 ERA before leaving a June 6 start with a strained rotator cuff. Perez has pitched far better at home, going 1-0 in five starts with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP, compared to a 1-2 mark with an 8.10 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP in five road outings.

WALK-OFFS

1. Atlanta CF Ender Inciarte, whose 18-game hitting streak ended Friday, began a new streak Saturday with a leadoff double in the first.

2. New York INF Wilmer Flores left Saturday’s game with a neck contusion after an eighth-inning collision at home plate with Atlanta C A.J. Pierzynski.

3. The Mets announced P Rafael Montero will remain in the starting rotation and will start Monday at Washington.

PREDICTION: Mets 6, Braves 5