The Braves won five out of six games last week to keep the heat on the first-place Phillies in the National League East, thanks in large part to Atlanta's stellar bullpen performance. Braves relievers combined to post a 0.84 ERA over 21 1/3 innings, earning MLB Bullpen of the Week presented by The Hartford honors for July 30-Aug. 5.

As part of The Hartford Prevailing Moments program, each Monday throughout the 2018 season, MLB.com is honoring the MLB Bullpen of the Week presented by The Hartford. An industry-wide panel of MLB experts, including legendary stats guru Bill James, constructed a metric based on James' widely renowned game-score formula, to provide a weekly measurement of team-bullpen performance.

Here's how the Bullpen Rating System is compiled for each week. For reference, a weekly score of 100 is considered outstanding:

• Add 1.5 points for each out recorded

• Add 1.5 points for each strikeout

• Add 5 points for a save

• Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed

• Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed

• Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed

• Subtract 1 point for each walk

• Subtract 5 points for a blown save

The Braves' bullpen finished the week with a score of 108, edging out the Giants (103.5) and the Rays (102). Atlanta relievers struck out 24 and walked only three during the week, surrendering just one homer.

Rookie left-hander Jesse Biddle led the way with four scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out two. Biddle closed out Atlanta's 5-4, 10-inning victory over the Mets on Sunday to cap off a 5-1 week. Newly acquired relievers Jonny Venters and Brad Brach also made strong first impressions since being traded to Atlanta, combining for three scoreless frames.

The unexpected: Braves manager Brian Snitker called on his bullpen in the sixth inning as Atlanta trailed the Mets, 3-1, on Sunday. With two outs and runners at first and second, Venters came on in relief of starter Julio Teheran . Venters got Jose Reyes to ground out to end the threat.

After Atlanta scored twice to tie the game in the top of the seventh, Brach worked around a walk to put up a scoreless frame in the bottom half, and Dan Winkler worked around a single for a scoreless eighth.

The Braves took the lead in the ninth, and A.J. Minter came on to close things out. But after retiring Reyes on a groundout to open the frame, Minter surrendered a game-tying homer to Devin Mesoraco , followed by a Brandon Nimmo single.

How they prevailed: With the winning run on base, Minter got Amed Rosario to line out to center field, and followed that with a strikeout of Kevin Plawecki to send the game into extra innings.

That gave the Braves a chance to regain the lead in the top of the 10th on a Nick Markakis solo homer. Biddle took the mound for the bottom of the 10th, and despite yielding a leadoff double to Wilmer Flores , he induced three straight groundouts to seal the victory.

Manny Randhawa is a reporter for MLB.com based in Denver. Follow him on Twitter at @MannyOnMLB.