At long last, the Mets received a solid start. The offense gave their supposed lockdown bullpen a late lead.
It didn’t matter.
Whatever can go wrong for this team will go wrong.
Kodai Senga and Francisco Lindor did their jobs.
Ryan Helsley, one of the big arms the Mets acquired at the trade deadline, did not.
He was torched for two runs in the eighth inning of yet another brutal Mets loss to the Braves, a 4-3 setback that makes it 13 losses in 15 games for Carlos Mendoza’s beaten-down team.
Helsley was booed off the mound after allowing run-scoring doubles to Michael Harris and Ozzie Albies.
The Mets (64-57) have dropped five consecutive series since a seven-game winning streak that feels like it came months ago.
Their lead over the Reds for the final NL wild-card spot is a tenuous half-game.
“For everybody else to do their job and you not to do yours, it sucks,” Helsley said. “You never want to be that guy, the reason the team loses.”
Senga looked more like himself in delivering a strong outing, allowing two earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings.
It remarkably was the longest by a Mets starter since David Peterson went six innings last Wednesday. Lindor had three hits and keyed a two-run sixth inning that gave the Mets the lead.
On the same night he was honored as the Mets home run king, Pete Alonso drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out, run-scoring single.
It was set up for the Mets finally to win a series for the first time since sweeping the Giants July 25-27. But for two months now, this team has found ways to lose.
That continued Thursday night as the Mets fell to a ghastly 19-33 since June 12. That’s a 103-loss pace.
“We’re in a situation where no matter what happens, we stay together. We fight for each other. We play for each other,” Lindor said. “It’s definitely a test that we’re going through. It’s a big adversity. Everyone here has a sense of urgency of trying to win and wants to win, and they’re doing everything right. So, it’s tough to deal with the ups and downs at the end of the night.”
Helsley, scored upon in four of six outings as a Met, got himself into trouble by walking Marcell Ozuna with one out. He hung a slider to Harris, who laced it into the gap in left-center field to tie it.
Cedric Mullins didn’t help matters on the play, taking an odd route to the ball and over-running it, enabling pinch-runner Eli White to score.
Albies drove home Young with a double off the wall in right, going down and getting a low 98-mph fastball.
Asked if the transition from closer to set-up man has been difficult, Helsley said: “Trying to figure out that role and that routine to be ready when my name is called. I just haven’t been good.”
Said Mendoza: “This guy’s elite. We’ve just got to get him back on track.”
In the last six games, the Mets have blown leads of six runs, five runs, four runs, two runs and one run five times. Even when the inconsistent offense produces, the pitching lets them down.
Lindor reached in the bottom half of the eighth inning with an infield single but was stranded.
The Mets went down in order in the home ninth, allowing closer Raisel Iglesias to get away with just seven pitches.
The large crowd booed them off the field.
Senga kept the Mets in the game, striking out seven and allowing five hits and two earned runs while throwing 93 pitches.
The problem was the Mets offense was getting dominated by Bryce Elder, who entered with a 6.12 ERA and 15 earned runs allowed in his previous 15 ¹/₃ innings.
Over the first five innings, all the Mets had to show for their night was a Lindor home run.
In the sixth, they finally got going, starting with a one-out single by Lindor.
He stole second and went to third on catcher Drake Baldwin’s throwing error. Brandon Nimmo drove him in with a sacrifice fly, and Alonso plated Juan Soto with a two-out single.
Citi Field was alive. It, of course, didn’t last. Nothing good does with the Mets these days.
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