Lifeless offense, pen make Harvey a hard-luck loser

Once again, Matt Harvey gave the Mets a solid start. And, once again, the Mets wasted it in Sunday’s 81 loss to Pittsburgh.

Harvey wasn’t beaten by the Pirates, he was undone by the rain, the Amazin’s failing lineup and a floundering bullpen.

Despite not having his best stuff and seeing his careerlong 16inning scoreless streak snapped on Pedro Alvarez’s secondinning solo shot, Harvey was outstanding. He scattered seven hits and struck out seven.

Harvey — who had pitched a 0.63 ERA in his last four starts — finished the sixth inning with 103 pitches and the score tied at one, having tossed four straight scoreless frames and looking strong enough to throw more. But in the bottom of the inning, the rain moved in and the game was delayed for 42 minutes. With Harvey coming off Tommy John surgery and facing a long delay, the call was easy.

“He was done,’’ manager Terry Collins said.

It’s unclear how much further Harvey could have gone without the rain delay. What is clear is Bobby Parnell came on and coughed up four runs — two earned — in just twothirds of an inning.

“[Sunday] was definitely a struggle, and overall it was a tough day for us,’’ Harvey said. “We’ve got a lot of games to play and we’re still in good position, so we’ve got to kind of flush this one and move forward.’’

It marked the first time the Mets had lost a Harvey start at home since June 10, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. This has become an alltoofamiliar sign, an alltoofrequent refrain.

Sunday was the 16th time Harvey had allowed a run or less and still failed to win, the most for any pitcher in his first 57 games in the past century and the fourthmost in the majors since 2012 despite the fact he missed all of last year.

Two dozen times the Mets have scored two runs or less for him, though he has done his part to keep them in those games, with a sterling 2.34 ERA.

“It was a rough one. We’re going to move forward. We’ve got to keep our heads down and keep fighting,’’ said Harvey, who allowed a pair of twoout triples but pitched his way out of both james to draw praise from Collins.

“He wasn’t as sharp as he normally is, but I’ll tell you what, our starting pitchers battle,’’ Collins said. “Matt didn’t give in. He’s still in the sixth inning, he nedded to make a pitch, it was 98 mph. It was still there. That’s why I love them; they don’t give in.’’