ATLANTA – The Mets ended the month of April with a loss, but they couldn’t have asked for a better opening chapter to the season.

Jeff Francoeur homered and had a career-high five RBI yesterday, leading the Atlanta Braves to an 8-5 victory over the Mets that snapped a five-game losing streak and seemed about as important as a win can get on the final day of April.

Even with the loss, the Mets won 16 games in April – tying their franchise record for the opening month of the season. And they head to May with a six-game lead over the Braves.

“It would have been nice to get out of here with a sweep,” starter SteveTrachsel said. “But we’ll take two out of three every series.”

The Braves lost the first two games in the series, scoring only two runs, and dropped seven games behind the firstplace Mets in the NL East – their largest deficit since being 7 1/2 off the lead on June 2, 2001.

Francoeur snapped out of a slump that sent his average back below .200. He singled in each of his first three atbats before hitting a mammoth two-run homer in the sixth that landed halfway up in the left-field seats.

Francoeur went 4-for-5, the four hits equaling his career high set last August during a brilliant rookie season that he’s struggling to duplicate. The five RBI were two more than his previous best in a game. He also ended the game with a diving catch near the right-field line with two runners on.

Kyle Davies (2-2) became the first Braves starter to win two games – and both of them have been against the Mets. This wasn’t nearly as dominating as his three-hit complete game at Shea Stadium on April 18, but he only had one bad inning before turning it over to the bullpen.

In the third,after being staked to a 3-0 lead, Davies gave up a two-run homer to Carlos Beltran and a run-scoring single to Cliff Floyd. With two runners on, the 22-year-old right-hander escaped the jam by striking out Ramon Castro.

The Braves went ahead for good in the bottom of the third when Francoeur’s bloop single to center brought home Andruw Jones, who led off the inning with a double against Trachsel (2-2).

Trachsel was yanked in the fourth after loading the bases on three walks. Manager Willie Randolph went with left-hander Darren Oliver, but the move backfired when the right-handed Francoeur lined a single to left that brought home two runs, putting Atlanta ahead 6-3.

Trachsel gave up eight hits and walked five, his ERA jumping from 3.13 to 4.72.

“It was his first bad outing of the year,” Randolph said. “The bottom line is he didn’t hit his spots.”

Endy Chavez hit his first homer of the season off Lance Cormier in the sixth, pulling the Mets to 6-4. But Francoeur’s 436-foot blast against Jorge Julio in the bottom half restored a comfortable lead for the Braves.