David Stearns laid out his team’s predicament hours before first pitch.
“We’ve had challenges at times during the course of the year of lining up all phases of our team,” the Mets team president said. “We’ve had some really good starts where we haven’t hit. We’ve had some days where strung together really quality at-bats, where we probably haven’t pitched quite well enough or where we’ve had defensive lapses that have cost us runs and ultimately cost us games.
“I’m not saying anything revelatory here. But we just need to play more consistent baseball in all facets of the game.”
As if on cue, the Mets went out and mostly pitched excellently before their fielding let them down.
It does not seem to matter how much one aspect of the team stars — like Tylor Megill, who threw seven scoreless innings against maybe the best offense in baseball — because another aspect of the team will dim the brilliance.
Several defensive miscues helped lead to another blown save and eventually a 5-2, 10-inning, series-opening loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday at Citi Field in the first game of a doubleheader, one that featured loud boos for the home team.
The Mets (22-31) sunk to a season-worst nine games under .500 and have dropped 13 in their past 17.
Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer in the 10th was the dagger, but the Mets will rue the fact that they allowed the game to reach a 10th inning.
The Mets scored the first two runs on a Francisco Lindor home run in the third inning.
The Dodgers scored the game’s final five in the eighth, ninth and 10th aided by Mets defensive breakdowns.
In the eighth, a pair of misplays — Lindor could not get the ball out of his glove on a potential double play, only recording one out, before a potential double-play ball to Brett Baty was dropped, recording zero outs — allowed the Dodgers to mount a threat.
Jake Diekman pitched admirably and did well to allow just one run, on a Freeman RBI single.
With a one-run lead in the ninth, manager Carlos Mendoza went to Adam Ottavino — and not the struggling Edwin Diaz — which did not work.
A pair of singles put runners on the corners without an out before the Dodgers tied it on a squeeze bunt with some help from Ottavino.
He believed he could catch Chris Taylor’s bunt on the fly, but it bounced just before his glove and then bounded away from him, so no outs were recorded and the game was tied.
The Mets wasted a golden opportunity in the ninth, when they loaded the bases with just one out.
But Tyrone Taylor (who was once ahead 3-0 in the count) and Jeff McNeil popped out, the latter spiking his bat in the latest frustration of a frustrating season.
Freeman smoked a two-run homer in the 10th and heard significant cheers, Dodgers fans taking over Queens.
Forgotten by the ending was the promising beginning.
Making just his second start since a shoulder strain sidelined him for about seven weeks, Megill was excellent in seven shutout, three-hit innings in which he struck out nine and walked just one against maybe the best offense in baseball.
The Dodgers’ historically awesome trio of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman went a combined 2-for-9 against Megill with two harmless singles.