BALTIMORE — Before Sunday’s game at Camden Yards, Buck Showalter was discussing all the issues going on with the Mets and said, “What is it they say? The things that don’t kill you …”
When told the rest of the phrase was “make you stronger,” Showalter chuckled and said, “We’ll find out if that’s true, right?”
Then the Mets went out and took another step closer to flatlining, with a 2-0 loss to the Orioles, as their spiral since the trade deadline sell-off continued, swept for a second straight series.
They’ve now lost all six games since the deadline to fall a season-worst 11 games under .500.
It’s the most games they’ve sunk below the .500 mark since July 2019.
“It’s been a really, really, really tough week,’’ Pete Alonso said afterward. “A very tough week.”
Using a lineup that was without Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte and Francisco Alvarez, they failed to score more than three runs for a fifth consecutive game.
Of the winless road trip, Showalter said it was “not too good. We’ll get home and hope to turn some things around, and people hopefully will make use of the opportunity they’re getting. It’s a learning curve, and it’s painful, sometimes, for them.”
The Mets wasted another solid start from Jose Quintana, who allowed two runs in six-plus innings, but got no support and was hurt by some shaky plays in the field behind him.
Rafael Ortega misplayed a single into a triple in center field, Mark Vientos couldn’t handle a grounder at third that helped lead to a run and Danny Mendick froze at second base, as another run scored.
“We had five guys on the field that played at Syracuse,’’ Showalter said of the inexperienced group that featured five players that spent time at Triple-A this year. “They’re gonna make mistakes, but they’ll get better.”
Besides Ortega, Vientos and Mendick, the Mets started DJ Stewart and Brett Baty — all of whom have spent time in the minors this season.
And the manager also noted the lack of offense: “When you’re not scoring runs, you’re not gonna win any games.”
Quintana faced trouble in the third, as he loaded the bases with two outs — allowing two walks and a single — but he got Gunnar Henderson to pop to left to end the threat and keep the game scoreless.
The Mets — who managed four hits in the game — loaded the bases in the fifth against Kyle Bradish, also with two out. Jeff McNeil walked, Francisco Lindor singled and Alonso walked.
Cionel Perez replaced Bradish and got Stewart to ground out.
Ortega misplayed a liner to center by Jorge Mateo into a triple with one out in the bottom of the inning, and Mateo scored on Adley Rutschman’s grounder to third that Vientos bobbled.
Quintana opened the bottom of the seventh by giving up a leadoff double to James McCann and a single to right by Ryan McKenna, leaving with runners on the corners and no outs.
Trevor Gott entered and got pinch-hitter Ryan O’Hearn to hit a grounder that scored McCann for a 2-0 Baltimore lead.
The Mets will return to Citi Field on Monday for the first time since the underperforming roster was gutted at the deadline, with a series against the surging Cubs, who have played themselves into a wild-card spot, followed by a visit from first-place Atlanta.
“We’re just doing the best we can with what we’ve got,’’ Alonso said. “We’re just trying to do the best we can, but we need to be better, for sure.”
That might not happen for a while.
