Mets one-hit in lackluster post-All-Star break loss to Dodgers

If Friday evening was any indication, the All-Star break didn’t do the Mets a lot good.

They opened the second half with a complete flop in a 6-0 loss to the Dodgers at Citi Discipline.

Justin Verlander delivered one other lackluster begin — he walked a season-high six batters in simply 5 innings — and the offense was nowhere to be discovered towards Dodgers lefty Julio Urias.

Fittingly, all of it performed out on what appeared like a burnt-out cow pasture due to a live performance that befell in the course of the break. There have been swaths of lifeless grass behind the left aspect of the infield, in addition to in left-center subject.

The Mets’ third straight loss dropped them again to seven video games beneath .500 at 42-49 and left them seeming much less prone to make a run on the postseason, with the commerce deadline simply over two weeks away.

They now are eight video games again within the wild-card race and a season-worst 19 ½ video games again of Atlanta within the NL East.

“It’s not one thing within the entrance of our thoughts, that we’re operating out of time,’’ Francisco Lindor mentioned. “We’ve received [71] video games left. We’ve got a way of urgency. We’re all pushing. We’re all making an attempt. It’s a type of [things], we will solely hope to get going in some unspecified time in the future.”

That point wants to return quickly.

Although Verlander (3-5) didn’t permit a success till Mookie Betts’ run-scoring single with one out within the fifth inning, he struggled along with his command from the beginning. He was booed as he left the mound after the fifth.

Brandon Nimmo led off the underside of the primary inning with a shot off the highest of the wall in right-center that was initially dominated a house run, however was modified to a double. Tommy Pham and Lindor whiffed earlier than Pete Alonso walked, however Starling Marte flied to proper to maintain the sport scoreless. Nimmo’s double was the Mets’ solely hit of the sport.

Verlander’s lack of command caught as much as him within the fifth inning, when he walked the bases loaded with one out — issuing walks to the underside third of the lineup.

“That may’t occur,’’ Verlander mentioned.

After a go to from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, Betts adopted with a low liner to left that fell in entrance of Mark Canha for an RBI single to attain the sport’s first run. Freddie Freeman then ripped a two-run double down the right-field line to make it 3-0.

Verlander known as Freeman’s hit “a backbreaker,” however was simply as upset concerning the six walks.

And after he had thrown 104 pitches, the evening was over for Verlander — and for the Mets.

They received only one hit off Urias in his six innings, whereas Lindor and Alonso have been each booed after putting out within the sixth. Slumping rookie Francisco Alvarez additionally heard it from the gang following his groundout that ended the seventh.

“We perceive the sense of urgency and the video games which are forward of us,’’ supervisor Buck Showalter mentioned. “It stings a bit to begin [the second half] this manner.”

Mentioned Lindor: “We’ve received to get it performed. We’ve got to get it performed.”

The Aug. 1 commerce deadline is quick approaching, and previous to the loss, common supervisor Billy Eppler left open the potential for promoting — slightly than shopping for.

“They’re gonna do what they do,’’ Lindor mentioned of the entrance workplace. “Their job is to place the workforce collectively. Our job is to get wins. If we don’t get it performed, that places them in a tricky place. That’s the choice they’re gonna make: trades to enhance the workforce or commerce for the longer term. Both method, we’ve received to regulate what we will management.”

The Mets will look to Kodai Senga to get them happening Saturday towards the Dodgers, but when they will’t rating, it gained’t matter who’s on the mound.

“It sucks,’’ Verlander mentioned of the loss. “This was not sport of baseball in any side. That doesn’t imply we will’t go on a roll. We performed good baseball going into the break and I’ll be damned if one sport is gonna be the factor that [makes us] say, ‘We will’t go on a run.’ ”