Twelve days ago, we watched the team suffer its worst loss of the year. Tonight’s win was undoubtedly one of the best.

Spencer Schwellenbach isn’t quite our stopper, but he has grown by leaps and bounds this year. After twirling a nine-inning gem his last time out, he was a bit more ordinary tonight, allowing four runs including two solo homers.

But he still got eight strikeouts and just gave up two walks, and he managed to go seven innings, crucial for a team with a pen as iffy as ours, particularly since we won’t have another off day for another two weeks.

His opposite number, David Peterson, is another one of those Mets fifth starters who seems to be way better than you’d think. (Tylor Megill, who just went down with an elbow injury, is another one. Steven Matz, Dillon Gee, Jon Niese, and I don’t know, you’ll probably be able to think of others; seems like so many of these guys have given us fits over the years.) Peterson was holding the Braves almost entirely in check, allowing just one run on four hits through the first seven innings of the game.

He was doing so well, in fact, that Mets manager Carlos Mendoza decided to press his luck for the 8th. Lucky for us. Nick Allen worked a leadoff walk, which opened up the right side of the infield for Ronald Acuña to rap a sharp single through, which knocked Peterson out of the game, and so the Mets played matchups and brought in a righty, so Snit did the same and brought in Verdugo, who used the platoon advantage to lift a bloop single to right field to load the bases.

And then the Braves offense threatened to do what it has done so many times before. Matt Olson was called out on a questionable strike three call, and Austin Riley meekly popped out to right field, too shallowly to score Allen from third. But with two outs, down to his last strike, Marcell Ozuna yanked a double just inside the line and while it rattled around all three men scored, and suddenly it was a tie game.

Pierce Johnson pitched a perfect eighth, and then Dylan Lee came in for the ninth. Juan Soto greeted him with a leadoff single – no shame in that. Then Pete Alonso took him to the warning track in right field. But Soto must have figured Acuña didn’t have a chance of catching the ball, and when Ronald leapt and came down with it, Soto was a deer in headlights and easily got doubled off first base. He can hit worth three-quarters of a billion dollars, but he ain’t much of a baserunner. The third out came easily, and we went to extras.

Raisel Iglesias came in, and once again it was easy to imagine how this would end. Luisangel Acuña, Ronald’s speedy younger brother, went out to be the ghost runner on second base. But the bottom half of the New York lineup treated Raisel with kid gloves, and Luisangel stayed put, as Jared Young struck out, Francisco Alvarez flew out, and Ronny Mauricio popped out. The latter two are onetime stud prospects who’ve gotten hurt and never yet done much in the majors; I’ve never even heard of Young. They clearly spent all their money on the top half of the lineup, and Iglesias got a measure of redemption.

Our half of the 10th began with Luke Williams at second, and Ronald immediately went to join him at first as he received a leadoff intentional walk. Alex Verdugo immediately popped out on the first pitch, and then came another turning point: with Olson up, reliever Brazoban threw a pitch in the dirt that Alvarez couldn’t handle, and Williams started for third. But the ball wasn’t that far away, and Alvarez picked it up — and then foolishly threw behind Williams and pick him off second, allowing the speedy Williams to take third. With men on first and third, Matt Olson got an unintentional intentional walk to bring up Riley with the bases juiced and the game on the line.

The first pitch was at the letters, center cut. He put a good swing on it, and the center fielder Tyrone Taylor ran flat out and made a nice running grab – at which point Williams easily moseyed home for a walkoff sac fly.

Shake hands all around. A few months ago, I would have taken a game like this for granted. I sure don’t any more.