PITTSBURGH — The good vibes of snapping the franchise’s longest losing streak in four years lasted all of about 21 hours for the Mets.
Returning to PNC Park on Sunday with a chance to win a series, the Mets maybe felt the real effect of Pete Alonso’s absence from the lineup for the first time in the almost five complete games they had played without him.
The added “level of competitiveness” that manager Buck Showalter implored his players to find during a recent closed-door meeting was absent in a 2-1 loss to the Pirates.
The Mets managed only three hits and have lost eight of nine games as they await the Subway Series beginning Tuesday at Citi Field.
Alonso is expected to miss at least three weeks with the bone bruise and sprained left wrist he sustained after he was drilled with a pitch by Charlie Morton on Wednesday.
The absence of MLB’s home-run leader has left the lineup vulnerable to performances like Sunday’s.
Carlos Carrasco folded in the middle innings in his last start and Showalter wasn’t about to repeat history: The right-hander was removed after 4 ²/₃ innings in which he allowed two earned runs on six hits with three walks and one strikeout.
Carrasco pitched strong through five innings in his previous start before the Braves scored three in the sixth against him.
On this day Jeff McNeil’s homer leading off the fourth produced the game’s first run.
The extra-base hit was only McNeil’s third since May 1, when he had last homered.
McNeill jumped on a full-count fastball from Mitch Keller and cleared the right-field fence.
Brett Baty drew a two-out walk in the inning and Mark Canha was hit by a pitch, but Keller retired Omar Narvaez to escape.
Carrasco surrendered a homer to Jack Suwinski leading off the bottom of the inning that tied it 1-1.
Suwinski swatted a hanging breaking ball high off the right-field foul pole before the Pirates added another run in the inning on Tucupita Marcano’s RBI single that followed Ji Hwan Bae’s double.
Showalter removed Carrasco with Suwinski coming to the plate with two runners on base and two outs in the fifth.
Lefty Josh Walker entered and struck out Suwinski, keeping the Pirates within a run. But the Mets offense was never able to muster a rally.