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ATLANTA — The newest Mets starting pitcher may have provided a tutorial for many of his rotation mates.

Fact: It’s not a crime to pitch six innings or more.

Clay Holmes on Saturday followed the example set by rookie Nolan McLean a night earlier and threw strikes, inducing early contact. The result was a second straight outing into the seventh inning for a Mets starting pitcher — still not a world record, according to Guinness, but noteworthy enough given the manner this season has proceeded for the team’s rotation.

In his longest start in almost three months, Holmes helped deliver a 9-2 victory over the Braves at Truist Park that gave the Mets a second straight win and fifth in their last seven games.

Six homers carried the Mets’ offensive attack: Mark Vientos and Jeff McNeil each hit two, and Pete Alonso and Starling Marte delivered one apiece.

Three of the Mets’ blasts were hit in the seventh inning to extend a one-run lead. The outburst gave the Mets 29 homers in their last 11 games.

The Mets remained six games behind Philadelphia for first place in the NL East. They extended their lead to 2 ½ games on Cincinnati for the NL’s third and final wild-card berth.

Holmes, who before McLean’s seven-inning gem Friday, was the last Mets pitcher other than David Peterson to complete six frames in a start (that occurred June 7) started and finished strong on this night. Overall, he lasted 6 ¹/₃ innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

“You have one guy kind of do something and break through, and I think people can feed off that and the game is contagious,” Holmes said. “I don’t know that it’s us trying to go out and do more. I think it’s that we’re in a spot where we can trust ourselves, and there is a healthy competition, and let’s go out and be our best.”

Marte, in addition to going deep, helped spark the team on the bases and with his arm. The 36-year-old outfielder stole two bases and threw out a runner at the plate as the starting left fielder.

“It feels good the way we have been playing the last two nights,” Marte said through an interpreter. “We have been taking a lot of pitches but also taking advantage of the pitchers’ mistakes. We are being aggressive on the base paths and on pitches in the zone.”

McNeil, back in the lineup after a two-game absence with right shoulder discomfort, launched a three-run homer in the third inning that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead.

McNeil smashed a first-pitch cutter from Cal Quantrill just inside the right field foul pole for his 11th homer this season.

Marte’s arm saved a run in the bottom of the inning. Jurickson Profar hit a fly to medium left field, on which Nacho Alvarez Jr. tagged up at third base. Marte, starting in left with Brandon Nimmo sidelined by neck stiffness, unleashed a perfect throw home to nail Alvarez for the final out.

“It’s just a huge momentum boost,” Holmes said.

Holmes walked Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña Jr. to begin the fourth and both runners scored.

Acuña was safe at second — the Braves won a replay challenge — on Michael Harris II’s grounder to McNeil, loading the bases before Marcell Ozuna’s sacrifice fly brought in Atlanta’s first run.

Drake Baldwin’s ensuing squib between the plate and pitcher’s mound (Holmes’ only play was to first base) scored Acuña and sliced the Mets’ lead to 3-2.

Holmes received a boost in the sixth from Tyrone Taylor, whose full extension dive in center field robbed Harris of a hit for the final out in the inning.

Alonso and Vientos homered in consecutive at-bats in the seventh, extending the Mets’ lead to 6-2. Then, after McNeil was retired, Marte hit the Mets’ third homer of the inning.

Vientos went deep again in the ninth, giving him four homers in his last six games. McNeil followed with his second homer of the night.

“We have got a chance to sweep these guys [Sunday],” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That is the mentality. It’s good to come in here after a couple of tough losses [in Washington] to bounce back and play well.”