In the top of the 18th inning on Saturday, the Mets had a glimmer of hope they could win their chess match-like game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Jeff McNeil punched a single through the gap on the left side of the infield to score Adeiny Hechavarria, which made it a then 3-2 contest. McNeil was thrown out at second to end the frame, but New York needed just three outs to seal a victory and gain some ground on the first place Phillies who had already lost.

In the bottom of the inning, Chris Flexen, up from Syracuse to replace the injured Luis Avilan, loaded the bases for Ryan Braun, who made him pay by driving in two on a single to right to end the game.

“He had a great start his last start [for Syracuse] and the last time he was up here we saw pretty good stuff coming out of the arm, 95 [mph], 96, and had a really good slider,” Callaway said before the game, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. “We feel at this point he can come up here and probably give us the best innings.”

Prior to Flexen, the bullpen was stellar on Saturday. Robert Gsellman gave them three strong innings, Seth Lugo threw three scoreless of his own, and four other relievers combined to throw three more scoreless prior to Flexen’s entry.

By the point the right-hander came in, manager Mickey Callaway had already used his best arms, including closer Edwin Diaz, but most importantly, long-man Drew Gagnon, who only pitched a third of an inning.

But the loss came down ultimately to the performance on the field. New York’s offense has been anemic, and has scored just five runs in their last four games, one of which was a home run from Noah Syndergaard on Thursday.

The pitching, which was a problem early on, his righted the ship in the last several games, but the Mets can’t seem to find a comfortable medium.

Entering Sunday, they sit with a 16-17 record, the first time all year they’ve been under .500, and are 2.5 games out of first place, behind both the Phillies and Atlanta Braves.

New York will look to salvage the series finale in Milwaukee on Sunday before they head to San Diego for a three-game set.