METS GAME DAY

PHOENIX—Seth Lugo had his worst start of the season Friday and the Mets’ offense continued to struggle in a 7-3 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

The Mets (28-38) have lost four straight and 17 out of their last 20 games. They dropped a season-high 10-games below .500, a dramatic swing since their 11-1 start. Their descent took two months and two days, or 54 games.

Lugo’s streak of scoreless innings as a starter was snapped Friday.

The right-hander, who had thrown 10 scoreless innings without a walk, allowed five runs on eight hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. He gave up his first home run since May 28, the Mets’ Memorial Day meltdown in which he blew the save on Jacob deGrom’s start at Atlanta.

That was also Lugo’s last appearance out of the bullpen, forced into the rotation after that by Noah Syndergaard’s strained right index finger.

The offense, which is the second-worst in the big leagues, had it’s 11th straight game of three runs or less. The Mets, who have scored an MLB-worst 20 runs in June, had chances early and squandered them. They went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position Friday.

In the second and third innings, the Mets had runners on second and third base with no outs and failed to score a single run.