A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Rally in 9th falls short as Amazin's drop 2 of 3 to M's

The number of MLB teams who haven’t lost a series this season was reduced to zero Sunday.

In this case the Mets were largely cooked by their bullpen, but one more hit in the ninth inning might have excused that in an 8-7 loss to the Mariners at Citi Field.

The Mets nearly added another fantastic finish to their list of great comebacks this season, scoring twice in the ninth before Pete Alonso struck out against Diego Castillo with the bases loaded to end it.

The Mariners, who won two of three, became the first team to win a series against the Mets this season. In their previous 10 series the Mets had won nine and tied another. The stretch without a series loss was the longest to begin a season in franchise history.

“I think our guys appreciate how hard it is to do,” manager Buck Showalter said.

In the ninth, Eduardo Escobar tripled against Drew Steckenrider — the Mets’ first hit since the fourth inning — before Jeff McNeil delivered an RBI single. Patrick Mazeika’s infield single put runners on first and second and Brandon Nimmo’s RBI double against the shift pulled the Mets within 8-7. Starling Marte struck out against Castillo for the second out and Francisco Lindor was intentionally walked before Castillo ran the count full to Alonso, who tried to check his swing on a slider and was called out. Alonso said he initially thought he didn’t swing.

“But after a while kind of thinking about it, I thought maybe I went a little bit too far,” Alonso said. “I tried to hold up. Originally it looked like a strike and I saw that it wasn’t going to be, tried to hold up, but the umpire thought I went.”

The Mets had rallied with two outs in the ninth to score five runs and win in St. Louis on April 25. Ten days later they overcame a six-run deficit in the ninth inning to win in Philadelphia. On this day they were bracing for a second walkoff win of the season.

“When I got the hit, I was liking our chances of the next two guys coming up,” Nimmo said. “Especially when they intentionally walked

Francisco,

I thought that was going to come back and bite them, loading up the bases with a slider guy. But it didn’t and we fought and gave it a real good effort.”

Chasen Shreve surrendered a game-tying homer to Julio Rodriguez leading off the sixth. Before the inning was complete, Cal Raleigh homered against Drew Smith. The two-run blast created a 7-5 deficit for the Mets.

For Shreve it was a second appearance in as many days in which he allowed a game-tying homer — Jesse Winker hit a three-run blast against him Saturday night. Smith, who began the season with 13 ¹/3 shutout innings, has now been scored upon in consecutive appearances. The Mariners scored an additional run in the seventh, when Joely Rodriguez allowed an RBI single to Rodriguez.

J.D. Davis and Nimmo each tripled in the fourth — the first time in four years the Mets had two triples in the same inning — sparking a fourrun outburst that placed the Mariners in a 5-4 hole. Alonso singled leading off the inning and

Mark Canha walked, before

Davis delivered with a shot to right field against Ray for a triple. After Escobar walked, Nimmo delivered with two outs, bringing in the runs with his triple. Lindor had provided the Mets with a first-inning lead by blasting a 423-foot solo homer into the second deck in left field.

Carlos Carrasco was knocked out in the fifth after allowing four earned runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and one walk. It followed two straight superb performances from the right-hander in which he had allowed two earned runs over 14 2/3 innings against the Braves and Nationals.

Mike Ford’s two-run single in the fourth and Abraham Toro’s ensuing sacrifice fly had put the Mets in a 4-1 hole after Carrasco loaded the bases on two singles and a walk.

“We’ve been playing extremely good baseball and that is something really to be proud of,” Alonso said, referring to the stretch of series without a loss before Sunday. “We’ve had an amazing start … it’s been a very fun season so far and we have to get back on the horse [Monday].”