For the weekend, good just wasn’t enough.
The Mets won the first two games of the series against a weakened Marlins team and needed to finish off Sunday’s game with a sweep, given the tough schedule ahead of them.
Instead, a weak offense and poor relief work at Citi Field meant the Mets finished 3-3 at home.
Their next 10 games are against the Orioles, Padres and Diamondbacks, all of whom are in playoff contention, so this result is truly a lost opportunity for the Mets, who lost the No. 3 NL wild card spot to Atlanta on opening day.
After Brandon Nimmo left the game in the eighth inning with a sore right shoulder, the Mets went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and watched as Huascar Brazovan and Reid Garrett took the lead in the closing innings.
The Mets’ final at-bat came in the ninth inning, when Jose Iglesias and Tyrone Taylor reached base with consecutive singles at the start of the inning, after which Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor and Mark Vientos were all called out in quick succession.
Paul Blackburn has given the Mets strong starts in three of four games since joining the team at the trade deadline.
The right-hander went six innings, throwing 92 pitches and allowing four hits, one walk, four strikeouts and one earned run.
Blackburn has allowed one earned run in three of his four starts with the team.
Vientos tagged up from second base on Pete Alonso’s long hit to center field, then was called at home plate to end the first inning.
On this play, Derek Hill, who had crashed into the fence and fallen, threw the ball to right fielder Jesus Sanchez, who hit it into the cutoff.
Vientos reached third base with ease and got the go-ahead signal from manager Mike Cerbo, but was thrown out at home plate on a unique 8-9-4-2 double play.
Taylor attempted a diving catch in center field to grab Otto Lopez’s liner to center in the third inning, but missed.
Lopez led off with a triple and drove in third base, then scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Nick Fortes.
Lindor’s RBI single in the fifth tied the game at 1-1.
Jesse Winker singled to lead off the inning and Iglesias walked. Lindor reached base with two outs, but Vientos struck out to leave two runners on base.
Nimmo hit a home run off the second pitch of the sixth inning off Valente Veloso to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.
Nimmo pounced on the changeup and sent the ball into the second base deck in right field.
The outburst was Nimmo’s second of the series after missing Thursday with gastroenteritis.
Starling Marte singled later in the inning – the outfielder had come off the disabled list before the game after missing two months – and Taylor struck out to save the day after Iglesias walked.
Brazovan allowed the tying hit in the seventh inning.
After Emmanuel Rivera’s infield single advanced the runner to third base, Brazovan hit a wild pitch to tie the game at 2-2.
The threat ended after Nimmo made a diving catch in left field to stop a potential game-winning single by Nick Fortes and Garrett reached base with two outs and two runners on base.
Hill’s single to Phil Mutton in the eighth inning put the Mets behind 3-2.
Garrett walked three batters in the inning but tagged out Xavier Edwards at second base.
