SAN FRANCISCO — The Mets added a new wrinkle to their recent doldrums.
Instead of losing a game because they didn’t hit, they lost one Thursday night because their pitching was just as ineffective as their sputtering lineup.
David Peterson got jumped from the onset, and the Mets managed just five hits in a 7-2 loss to the Giants at Oracle Park that extended their losing streak to three games.
Peterson’s clunker followed a string of five straight solid starts from the Mets’ rotation that began with Peterson’s 5 ¹/₃ scoreless innings against the Pirates last Saturday.
Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga and Freddy Peralta followed with strong outings, but the Mets were just 1-3 in that stretch, with hits with runners in scoring position scarce.
On this night the Mets were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Over their last four games they are 1-for-32 in that category. Robbie Ray handled the Mets early, before the Giants bullpen sealed it with 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings.
Peterson lasted just 4 ¹/₃ innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits and two walks with five strikeouts. He was removed after just 68 pitches.
“Early in the game there were pitches I was trying to get down in the zone and I left them up and they took advantage,” Peterson said.
Bo Bichette delivered an RBI double in the first that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Francisco Lindor drew a leadoff walk and Juan Soto hit into a fielder’s choice before Bichette’s smash to left field brought Soto sliding across the plate. It was the fourth RBI this season for Bichette, who began the night batting .111.
“We have faced some pretty good pitchers recently, that is part of it,” Bichette said. “But I think for the most part guys are having good at-bats and maybe the contact is just not where we need it.”
Peterson scuffled through the first inning, falling into a 3-1 hole with three hits allowed. Luis Arraez smashed an RBI triple to begin the party before Matt Chapman’s double produced the second run. Peterson could have escaped the inning with a one-run deficit but dropped Mark Vientos’ flip while covering first base on Jung Hoo Lee’s grounder, scoring Chapman.
Mark Vientos’ first homer of the season, a shot into the left-field seats leading off the second, pulled the Mets to within 3-2.
“Vientos had some really good at-bats,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Especially early in the game we had some base runners. We just couldn’t put a lot together.”
Successive singles by Heliot Ramos, Arraez and Chapman loaded the bases for the Giants to begin the third inning.
Lee and Harrison Bader each hit a sacrifice fly to extend the Giants’ lead to 5-2. Peterson encountered further trouble in the inning, allowing a single to Daniel Susac before Casey Schmitt walked, but struck out Willy Adames to end the threat.
“Petey had a hard time getting inside to righties,” Mendoza said. “It was more up and away to those right-handed hitters and they made him pay.”
Peterson departed after walking Lee in the sixth. Sean Manaea retired Bader for the second out before walking Susac and surrendering an RBI single to Schmitt that gave the Giants a 6-2 lead.
Rafael Devers cleared the fence in left-center leading off the sixth against Manaea to push the Mets into a 7-2 hole. Devers mashed a 90-mph four-seamer that landed just beyond Luis Robert Jr.’s outstretched glove.
Manaea pitched 3 ²/₃ innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and two walks in his second relief appearance. The Mets are attempting to keep him stretched out until the need arises for a sixth starter. Manaea threw 74 pitches. In his Sunday outing he threw only 29.
Marcus Semien snapped an 0-for-20 with an infield single in the seventh inning.
The Mets will unleash McLean on Friday and hope the rookie can help get a team in need of an energy boost on track.
McLean allowed two earned runs over five innings against the Pirates on Sunday — the Mets lost the game in 10 innings to begin this downturn of four losses in five games.
