Mets fall for fifth consecutive time in ugly loss to Phillies

Now that the playoff talks have been realistically muted, the next question becomes: Can the Mets at least avoid the embarrassment of a losing season?

It doesn’t look good for orange and blue.

The Mets took another step back on Saturday night, as they weren’t particularly sharp on any front in a 5-3 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field.

Their fifth straight loss dropped the Mets five games below 0.500 with 13 games remaining. Nothing worse than a 9-4 will give the Mets a fourth losing season in their last five years and their second in a row under Luis Rojas.

At the very least, the Mets (72-77) put pressure on the first-place Braves by serving as a road kill for the Phillies, who started the night two games behind in the NL East. After the Phillies play the series final against the Mets on Sunday, they have seven straight games against the dreaded Orioles and Pirates.

Carlos Carrasco’s struggles in the first inning continued as second hitter of the game Jean Segura cleared the left field fence to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. But Carrasco escaped the rest of the frame unscathed and actually dropped his ERA in the first heat from 3:00 p.m. to 2:40 p.m.

Segura notched a homerun with two outs in the third, which extended the Phillies’ lead to 2-0. The home run was Segura’s 14th this season, including four against the Mets. Behind 0-2 on the count, he jumped on a Carrasco slider and threw a shot over the fence to the left center.

Carrasco gave the Mets a chance by allowing just those two earned runs, on five hits, in six innings with five strikeouts and two walks. He had kept the Mets in last Sunday’s game against the Yankees by allowing two earned runs in five innings. Carrasco’s ERA fell to 5.24, the lowest since his third start of the season on August 10. The right-hander missed the first four months of the season with a hamstring tear.

Freddy Galvis’ RBI double in the seventh against Brad Hand put the Mets in a 3-1 hole. Hand gave Brad Miller a brace early in the set before setting off a wild pitch. Trevor May came in and gave Bryce Harper a two-point brace, widening the Mets’ deficit to 5-1. Two of the round’s runs were undeserved, after Pete Alonso gave up on a pickup attempt with Odubel Herrera at first base.

Brandon Nimmo, in his second game back on the injured list, smashed a triple against Aaron Nola in the sixth, which led the Mets to close to 2-1. Francisco Lindor’s floor brought Nimmo, and Aaron Nola was finished for the night after the hitter that followed Alonso walked. Southpaw Jose Alvarado came in and struck out Michael Conforto on three throws to escape the round.

Dominic Smith delivered an RBI single for sure in the seventh that brought the Mets into the second inning of the game. Nimmo threw a homer in the eighth lead against Hector Neris who brought the Mets down to 5-3.

Nola lasted 5 ² / ₃ of innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk with nine strikeouts. In his previous appearance against the Mets on June 25, the right-hander struck out 10 straight batters to tie the record set by Tom Seaver in 1970. That record has since been tied by Corbin Burnes of Milwaukee.

The Mets had a shot at Nola in the second, when Jeff McNeil delivered a single with two outs to put the runners in the corners. But James McCann completed a seven batting throws swinging and missing an articulation curve for Nola’s third strikeout of the inning.