1st-place Amazin’s won’t dwell on sweep

The Mets were swept in three games by the Pirates. The Nationals lost their sixth straight game.

But the Mets don’t look at the sweep as a lost opportunity. First and foremost, they stress they still lead the NL East.

“If any of you guys in this room would have told me on May 15 that with 44 games left in the season, we’d have a 4 ¹/₂ game lead, I’d take it. I’ll take it,” manager Terry Collins said after the Mets’ 81 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday. “As bad as this game ended up looking, I’ll take it.”

He wasn’t the only one who saw a positive.

“I try not to think about [the sweep],” Travis d’Arnaud said. “I look at a 43 homestand.”

The Mets expect one reenforcement to arrive Tuesday in Baltimore. Lucas Duda, who has missed six games except for one pinchhit walk because of a back strain, is expected in the lineup.

“I feel good. I expect to play Tuesday,” Duda said.

The praise continued for Yoenis Cespedes and his Saturday throw from the centerfield warning track that cut down Pittsburgh’s Sean Rodriguez trying for a ninthinning triple.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said in person he had seen three great outfield throws dating to his days as manager in Colorado: Jose Guillen with Pittsburgh and two (in the same game) by the Cardinals’ Rick Ankiel.

“Now there’s four,” Hurdle said of Cespedes’ cannon shot that came to third on one bounce for the second out.

Hurdle said he had no problem with Rodriguez’s decision to try to stretch the hit.

“There’s not another outfielder in the game that can make that throw,” Hurdle said.

D’Arnaud’s homer in the second inning extended the Mets’ team record for homers in a season

at Citi Field to 70 (in 63 games).

D’Arnaud on his passed ball in the seventh: “I should have caught the ball, 100 percent my fault.

Collins had praise for d’Arnaud, who caught the 14inning game Saturday.

“Probably was exhausted from last night,” Collins said. “Came in and said he wanted to play today. I played him. He hit a homer, hit a double, I think he was pretty good.”

How did d’Arnaud return after 14 innings?

“It’s hard to recover, but fortunately we’ve got some good espresso machines,” he said. — Additional reporting

by Joel Sherman