Every remaining game is important as the Braves are in a division battle with the Marlins. But now that the rotation at least feels a little more whole, losing a game started by Max Fried or Ian Anderson does not feel as potentially detrimental as it did just a little more than a week ago.

Still, the Braves will be looking to see how Anderson bounces back after laboring through a 7-2 loss to the Mets on Saturday night at Citi Field. The rookie righted himself after a 33-pitch first inning, but he completed less than five innings for the second time in five career starts.

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“He shows you those signs of maturity when things aren’t going well,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I think that is just another situation he’ll learn from. He just got a little out of whack [in the first inning].”

It was an odd night for the Braves, who are just 2 1/2 games ahead of the Marlins with eight games remaining. Their bid for a third consecutive National League East title has been fueled by top NL MVP Award candidate Freddie Freeman and Shane Greene, who has been one of the game’s best relievers this year.

But as the Braves lost for the third time in their past five games, they saw Freeman go 0-for-5 with four strikeouts and a crucial double play with the bases loaded to end the seventh inning. His 11th career four-strikeout game was completed after the Mets tallied four runs and five hits in the eighth against Greene, who entered the game having allowed just three runs through his first 23 2/3 innings of the season.

“Those days we’re doing it, it’s really fun,” Snitker said. “But it is what it is.”

A sense of normalcy was provided by Adam Duvall, whose two-out homer in the sixth accounted for the only run allowed by Mets starter David Peterson, who recorded 10 strikeouts over six innings. The solo shot was his 16th homer, tying him with Mookie Betts and Manny Machado for the NL lead.

Duvall has hit 11 homers this month, matching the franchise’s September record Eddie Mathews set in 1959. The Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu was the only other big leaguer who entered Saturday having hit at least eight homers in September.

But the solo shots hit by Duvall and former Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud weren’t enough to bail out Anderson, who allowed three runs over 4 2/3 innings.

Anderson walked three consecutive batters to begin his 99-pitch outing and then allowed Robinson Canó’s two-run single in the first. After minimizing the damage in that opening frame, the 22-year-old hurler limited the Mets to what proved to be a decisive Robinson Chirinos RBI double in the fourth.

Though Anderson retired the first two batters in the fifth, he was lifted before having to face Canó again. He had limited the Nationals to one hit over seven scoreless innings last weekend.

“Obviously, you’re not going to have it every night,” Anderson said. “But to still try to find a way, battle and keep the team in a game, you learn a lot through those outings. I’ve had five outings so far and they’ve all been different, some good and some bad.”