On a day that Darryl Strawberry told the Mets, “The best is yet to come for you guys,” the team showed again Saturday it has a long way to go.
Seeking a third straight win for the first time since mid-April, the Mets reverted back to the ugly play that’s plagued them for most of the season in a 10-5 loss to Arizona at Citi Field.
After honoring Strawberry in a pregame ceremony by retiring his No. 18, the Mets opened June with a loss.
They rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it didn’t come close to getting them back in the game.
Sean Manaea gave up a grand slam to Christian Walker in the third inning, and the offense — which could have used a bat like Strawberry’s — got almost nothing off Arizona right-hander Slade Cecconi, who pitched poorly in three of his previous four outings.
The Mets hit Cecconi hard in the bottom of the first, but got nothing out of it as Francisco Lindor was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double to start the inning and Pete Alonso was stranded at second after his double.
Manaea loaded the bases with two outs in the third before Walker hit a grand slam to left field to put the Mets in a 4-0 hole.
It came in a 36-pitch inning for Manaea, who had pitched well in all but one of his 10 starts entering Saturday.
He settled down again after the third and ended up striking out 10 batters, but it wasn’t enough.
The Mets’ lone run against Cecconi came in the bottom of the fifth when Mark Vientos led off the inning with a 440-foot blast to make it 4-1.
It was Vientos’ fourth homer of the season.
But Arizona added to its lead against Manaea in the sixth with a two-out double by Gabriel Moreno followed by an RBI single through the right side of the infield by Blaze Alexander.
Manaea was replaced by Josh Walker, and after Alexander swiped second, a Walker wild pitch sent him to third and Tomas Nido’s throw sailed into left field, which allowed Alexander to score to put Arizona up, 6-1.
Walker allowed two more runs in the seventh and a pair more in the eighth.
The Mets scored twice in the bottom of the ninth before Alonso hit a two-run homer to give the first baseman 13 on the season.
Tyrone Taylor followed with a single before ex-Met Paul Sewald replaced Brandon Hughes and got J.D. Martinez to fly out to deep center to end it.
The Mets will close out their homestand Sunday against the Diamondbacks and have so far dropped six of nine in this stretch.
Early in the homestand, Luis Severino said if the Mets won six games on the homestand, it would be a positive sign that they were ready to turn their season around.
Instead, the Mets dropped four of their first five against the Giants and Dodgers before they beat the Diamondbacks on Thursday and Friday.
And they continue to look like a team headed for a trade deadline fire sale more than one that’s ready to compete for a playoff spot.
The fans spoke again Saturday, with an announced crowd of just 30,600 on hand on a perfect evening for Strawberry’s ceremony.
And with the game out of hand in the eighth inning, many of those who remained in the stands were chanting “Let’s Go Rangers” in anticipation of Game 6 of the Rangers-Panthers Eastern Conference Final later that evening.
