So far, the best part of this Mets�� homestand was Thursday’s rainout.
Since then, the Mets have dropped their first three games of the season for the first time since 2014, as Milwaukee completed a three-game sweep at Citi Field with a 4-1 win on Sunday.
For the second time in the series, the Mets’ bats were mostly silent, with just the one run Sunday and two extra-base hits.
They also saw Tylor Megill removed after four innings with tenderness in his right shoulder that required an MRI and an offense that was again mostly dormant.
“It’s just something you’ve got to overcome,” Brandon Nimmo said of the team’s slow start. “Whether we lost three games in a row now or lost three games in a row in June, it would be the same questions. We just have to focus on the next game. There’s gonna be bad times during the year, we might as well deal with it at the beginning.”
And outside of being booed before each of his at-bats, not even Mets’ nemesis Rhys Hoskins could bring any drama to this one.
With rookie manager Carlos Mendoza serving a one-game suspension due to Yohan Ramirez being banned for three games by MLB for throwing behind Hoskins on Saturday, the Mets didn’t show much of anything with bench coach John Gibbons running the show.
Asked what needed to be fixed following the sweep, Gibbons said, “Nothing.”
“It’s three games to start the season, so it looks worse,’’ the longtime Toronto manager said. “We just got beat. We’ve got a good ballclub. We like our ballclub. If we’re gonna take these three games and worry about them, we’re better than that.”
Megill, in his first start of the season, struggled with his command and walked three and hit a batter in his four-inning outing.
He gave up an unearned run in a 29-pitch first inning before Milwaukee added a two-out run in the second when Brice Turang singled and stole second and Jackson Chourio followed with a fly ball that fell on the track in right, as Starling Marte appeared to lose track of it. Turang scored to make it 2-0.
Francisco Alvarez, serving as the DH, continued his solid start at the plate with a double down the left-field line with one out in the bottom of the second. Alvarez scored on Tyrone Taylor’s single to left to cut the Mets’ deficit to 2-1.
But that was it for the Mets’ lineup.
Not only has Nimmo started 1-for-13 with five strikeouts out of the leadoff spot, Francisco Lindor has just one hit in a dozen at-bats behind him.
“It’s tough to win games if your No. 2 guy doesn’t get on base,’’ Lindor said. “I need to contribute to the team more than I have the past couple of games.”
But like the rest of the team, the shortstop said it’s too soon to panic.
“I’m still extremely optimistic,” Lindor said. “I feel really good. They’re just not falling now. It’s gonna change. I will get my hits and we’re gonna win games. [But] it doesn’t feel good to not have a win.”
The Mets had some chances, like with two on and two out against Colin Rea in the bottom of the fourth. Taylor drew a walk on a 12-pitch at-bat to load the bases for Omar Narvaez, who flied out to the track in right to end the 30-pitch inning.
Since Ramirez appealed his suspension, he was available to take over for Megill to start the fifth.
The right-hander gave up a bases-loaded RBI single to Dunn before fanning Hoskins, but Ramirez allowed another run in the sixth on a two-out RBI double by William Contreras.
Marte added a two-out double in the eighth, but Alvarez struck out looking.
“It’s one of those where everyone is excited to get going and have games and at-bats that count,” Lindor said. “You start seeing the way things are shaping [up] and you go ‘Uh-oh.’ You’ve got to start finding your ground and we haven’t really done it.”
