Everyone around the Mets agrees that they are fighting for their season.
The problem is that they are losing the fight.
Every game seems to bring a new gut-punch — or maybe to the face, like the beanball that Brandon Nimmo absorbed — for a free-falling Mets club that cannot stop this nosedive.
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The Mets were four outs away from cruising to a streak-snapping victory before the typically reliable Reed Garrett let up a stunning eighth-inning grand slam.
They then were a split-second away from tying the game in the ninth, but Mark Vientos could not leg out an infield single in what became another devastating blow, this one an 8-7 series and homestand-opening defeat against the Giants at Citi Field on Friday.
“We’re angry. Obviously, we’re angry,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Mets’ fourth straight loss. “Guys are going to be pissed. But at the same time, you have to stay positive.”
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The Mets (21-29) have dropped six of their past seven and nine of their past 11.
Each defeat — in each of the past three, they have homered three times, scoring enough but creating ways to lose elsewhere — seems more cruel than the last.
The mounting frustration led to a second clubhouse speech from Mendoza in the past week.
“He told us to keep fighting,’’ Adam Ottavino said. “It was good to hear. It’s hard sometimes when you get punched in the gut, and we’ve gotten punched in the gut a lot lately.”
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Friday’s gut-punch included both a jab and a hook.
The jab arrived with Garrett — perhaps the best emergence among the Mets this season — on the mound with a 6-2 edge in the eighth inning.
“I let it kind of snowball out of control,” said Garrett, who was not exactly crushed.
A swinging bunt and a bloop got him into trouble.
A two-out, RBI double from former Yankee Thairo Estrada sent warning signs.
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Garrett lost Matt Chapman on a seven-pitch walk before throwing two balls to Giants catcher Patrick Bailey.
He tried to sneak in a fastball that got too much of the plate.
“He got me,” Garrett said after letting up the go-ahead grand slam and later getting booed all the way to the dugout by the 26,658 on hand.
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Dealt a significant blow — and another in the top of the ninth when Mike Yastrzemski homered off Jorge Lopez — the Mets remained on their feet and mounted a rally in the ninth.
Against fireballing closer Camilo Doval, the Mets kept avoiding the knockout blow.
DJ Stewart doubled and scored on a Francisco Lindor single.
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Pete Alonso’s possible game-ending double play ball was booted by shortstop Marco Luciano.
Brandon Nimmo walked, loading the bases with just one out.
But in flirting with a game-changing rally, the Mets were merely ratcheting up the pain that was to come with the game-ending hook.
J.D. Martinez struck out on three pitches.
Vientos hit a slow tapper to the wrong person: four-time Gold Glover Matt Chapman, who barehanded and threw strong across the diamond just in time to break the Mets’ hearts.
How about their spirits?
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“We’re trying to stay upbeat. We’re trying to stay positive,” said Nimmo, who remained in the game after initially appearing dazed on a third-inning beaning, adding that he has passed concussion tests. “We’re going through a rough time right now as a team, but there are still things to celebrate inside of here. I really felt like the guys fought really, really well tonight.”
There were plenty of positive signs.
The six strong innings of two-run ball from Christian Scott; another homer from Vientos, who owns a 1.167 OPS in 10 games and is making a case for consistent playing time, even with Brett Baty still around; a bounce-back effort from the previously struggling Edwin Diaz, who had not pitched since Saturday before tossing a scoreless seventh inning in which he let up just a single and struck out two.
“We still have time left,” Nimmo said of a club that has the fourth-worst record in the National League.
They don’t have 162 games, though, to prove that the team is capable of better.
They only have until the end of July, which is when last season’s fire sale began.
The Mets absorbed another blow Friday, one that their owner — who already greenlit one sell-off — noticed.
“What a stretch, mind boggling,” Steve Cohen posted on X. “I know how disheartening this is for our fans. [Thank you] for caring so much.”
— Additional reporting by Dan Martin
