NEW YORK — For as well as the Mets have been playing of late, they still had one last test to pass to show that this version of the team really might be different. The Braves are a weakened team to be sure, decimated by injuries and underperformance. But they’re still the Braves. So often throughout history, they’ve been the ones to bring the Mets back down to earth.

So far, the Mets are passing. Jeff McNeil hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning Thursday to lead the Mets to a 3-2 win over the Braves in the opener of a four-game series at Citi Field.

After the Mets caught Ramón Laureano trying to steal home on an aborted squeeze play in the top of the 10th, McNeil came to the plate with two runners on base and two outs in the bottom of the inning. He hit a sharp fly ball down the right-field line, where Laureano overran it. The ball glanced off his glove and fell to the turf for a walk-off.

José Buttó struck out four batters over three perfect innings of relief behind Luis Severino, and Edwin Díaz pitched a scoreless ninth to give the Mets their shot at a walk-off.