Mets rise to the occasion for win over Braves after Griffin Canning injury

The Mets officially began the second half of their 162-game schedule Thursday night, and they did so by once again picking each other up in the face of injury.

The depleted pitching staff lost another starter — this time Griffin Canning — to a scary injury in the third inning, but the Mets still managed a split of their four-game series against the Braves with their second straight win following a 1-10 stretch, a crisp 4-0 combined shutout at Citi Field.

Four relievers filled the void left by Canning’s departure with a combined for 6 ¹/₃ scoreless frames for the Mets, who will get third baseman Mark Vientos back from the injured list for Friday’s opener of a three-game series in Pittsburgh.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he was awaiting test results on Canning, but it is believed to be an Achilles injury.

Despite dropping 10 of 11 before posting a 7-3 win Wednesday night over Atlanta, the Mets have moved back into first place in the NL East with a 48-34 record, a half-game ahead of the Phillies.

At the 81-game midpoint of last season, the middling Mets were 40-41, but they went on to finish with 89 wins before losing to the Dodgers in the NLCS.

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“Yeah, we got out of the gate and we won a lot of games,” Mendoza said of this year’s club. “Everything was clicking for us, starting pitching, bullpen, offense, a lot of different guys contributing day in and day out, and then we hit a stretch where it was hard. But it’s part of it, understanding that we still got a long way to go.

“We’re just at the halfway point. We know the competition is real in the National League. There’s a lot of good teams out there, and we want to continue to grind, continue to get better, continue to go out there and find ways to get the job done because at the end of the day, that’s what matters.

“But overall,” he added, “I’m very pleased how guys continue to deal with adversity.”

That misfortune continued when Canning was forced to depart after one turn through the Braves’ batting order.

With starters Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill and Sean Manaea all on the injured list, Canning left the game after recording the second out of the third inning with what the Mets termed a left-ankle injury. The righty crumbled to the mound on Nick Allen’s infield out and needed to be helped to the dugout.

He was replaced by Triple-A call-up Austin Warren, who kept the Mets in a scoreless game until they pushed across a run against Atlanta starter Grant Holmes in the fourth on Tyrone Taylor’s sacrifice fly to right to score Juan Soto, who led off the inning with a walk.

After Soto popped out with two runners aboard in the fifth, Pete Alonso picked him up and made it 2-0 with a two-out RBI single to center.

The Mets missed an opportunity to extend the lead when Taylor struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

It didn’t matter. Dedniel Núñez replaced Warren to start the sixth and retired the next six batters, including four consecutive strikeouts.

Jeff McNeil added a two-run single with two outs in the seventh for a four-run cushion before Ryne Stanek and Edwin Díaz recorded the final six outs.