ATLANTA — The best way to avoid more Mets bullpen meltdowns like these? It’s to have more nights like these.

Ender Inciarte’s walk-off safety squeeze capped a frenetic final two innings of play Saturday night, as the Mets suffered a disheartening, 4-3 loss to the Braves at SunTrust Park. It marked the second disastrous performance by the Mets’ relief corps in a six-day span, as Jacob deGrom experienced a serious bout of déjà vu: He performed brilliantly and departed the game as the winning pitcher, only to see his teammates cough it up with a flourish.

A.J. Ramos, Jerry Blevins and Jeurys Familia all pitched poorly in the final two innings, negating the 3-0 lead the Mets constructed in the top of the eighth. Yet thanks to deGrom, the Mets needed just two innings, just six outs from their heavily worked bullpen. That they got just four is immaterial to the bigger picture: The more games like this they can get from their starters, the less likely their relievers will break down.

“Everybody’s out there giving 100 percent and trying to win games,” deGrom said. “Our guys just didn’t have it tonight. Back at ’em tomorrow. Nobody likes to lose, whether I give up runs or they give up runs. It’s part of it, though. They’re not perfect.

“We go out there and give it our all. As long as you can say you did that, then that’s kind of what happens.”

With a 14-6 record, tied with the Diamondbacks for best in the National League, the Mets have put themselves past the moral victory stage. They want to build on what they’ve constructed here, and the big event from earlier Saturday — the demotion of fallen ace Matt Harvey to the bullpen — reflected the Mets’ all-business approach. You get no points, no margin for error, from past accomplishments.

Out of those 20 games, Familia has pitched in 12 and totaled 12 innings, Blevins has thrown in 12 for 3 ²/₃ innings, and Ramos has checked in 13 times for nine innings. When you win a lot of games, you’re going to call upon your main guys, and the Mets’ 96-80 run differential shows that they’re not blowing out opponents very often.

Hence they’ll need length from their starters in order to alleviate the workload on those bullpen guys, and they’re banking on the imminent return of veteran southpaw Jason Vargas (broken bone in right hand), who will make his final scheduled rehabilitation start Monday for Triple-A Las Vegas, to help in that regard. DeGrom did his part Saturday with seven shutout innings, as he allowed four hits and walked two while striking out 10.

“Two games in a row, he’s thrown the ball really well and just didn’t come up with the win,” Mickey Callaway said. “I’m sure he’s feeling good about his outing, as he should. We’ll keep on plugging away.”

DeGrom credited his recent uptick to a mechanical adjustment in which he wasn’t properly removing the ball from his glove in his full delivery. With that nuance tweaked, he feels confident moving forward, his 2.53 ERA and 32 innings pitched leading the rotation. While Noah Syndergaard has looked solid as deGrom’s fellow ace.

On April 16 at Citi Field, deGrom gave up three runs over 7 ¹/₃ innings against the Nationals, surrendering six hits and a walk while striking out 12, and left with a 6-1 lead and two men on base. A quartet of Mets relievers, with Familia the final line of defense, teamed to allow six men to score. The Mets’ 8-6 loss to their rivals marked the low point of this season.

The bullpen largely rebounded since then, tossing six shutout frames Friday night in a 12-inning, 5-3 victory, yet Saturday night will go down as the second-worst loss of this opening month. With deGrom once again left holding the bag.

“It’s part of the game,” deGrom said. “It’s unfortunate. We don’t want to lose games. But these guys are going to battle, and they’re going to do a great job.”

Their job will become less daunting each time a Mets starter even remotely resembles what deGrom provided on Saturday night.