The Mets hosted the Giants for the first game of a three-game set on Friday night. The game officially marked the beginning of the second half of the season for the Mets, and if this game is a sign of things to come, the team will only continue to disappoint.

After a five-iinning start by Carlos Carrasco was followed up by two solid combined innings from Jeff Brigham and Brooks Raley, David Robertson entered the game in the eighth with a two-run lead. With one out in the inning, a Pete Alonso throwing error and a walk was followed by a three-run homer off the bat of rookie catcher Patrick Bailey. The Mets could not mount a comeback and the Giants won the game 5-4, handing the Mets yet another brutal loss.

On multiple occasions throughout the night, Alonso was seen expressing frustration, including breaking his bat over his knee. “I’m fine with that. They care a lot,” said Buck Showalter after the game. “They’re all wanting to know why. We’ve got to figure out the reasons why.”

“It sucks,” Robertson said. “We’re trying. It seems like nothing is going our way. This clubhouse hasn’t given up, that’s for sure.”

David Robertson. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets had plenty of chances to win the game, even though Carrasco wasn’t very efficient. His 92 pitches after five innings prevented him from going further in the game, but he gave up just two runs and struck out a season high six batters.

Because Carrasco, Brigham, and Raley were able to hold San Francisco to just two runs through seven innings, the Mets played with the lead for nearly the entire game. They started the scoring in the first inning on a Jeff McNeil RBI double and regained the lead in the second with an Omar Narváez sacrifice fly.

When old friend Wilmer Flores stied the game with a solo homer in the fifth inning, the Mets once again rebounded and took the lead right back. McNeil came through like he did in the first inning with his second RBI double of the game. The play was originally ruled a ground-rule double which would have kept Nimmo, the lead baserunner, at third with two outs in the inning. However, the umpires ruled that fan interference occurred and awarded Nimmo home plate.

A Tommy Pham solo homer in the sixth inning gave the Mets another run to make it a 4-2 ballgame, but, of course, that insurance run wound up being moot. The eighth inning three-run home run off of Robertson was a blow that made even a one-run deficit seem insurmountable.

The Mets did get the tying run on base in the ninth after Luis Guillorme walked. But Starling Marte came into the game to pinch run and, when attempting to steal second, he was hosed by Bailey who played the hero yet again. It was the Mets first caught stealing attempt since May 10, but the putout ended the Mets’ threat. On the very next pitch, Nimmo struck out to give the Mets their third loss in a row.

“Tougher things have been overcome,” Showalter said when asked about being 10 games under .500. “I tell you one thing, I wouldn’t doubt these guys. Somebody’s gonna make a mistake if they do.”

Stat of the Game

Only the Royals finished with a worse record than the Mets in June in all of Major League Baseball. The 7-19 record the Mets put up is the team’s worst calendar month since June 2018 when they went 5-21.

Player Focus

Jeff McNeil hasn’t had a game like tonight in a long time. He simply hasn’t looked right all season, entering the game with a .255 batting average and just a .657 OPS after winning the maj0r-league batting title a season ago. However, he finished 2-for-4 on Friday with two opposite-field doubles and two RBIs in what is hopefully the start of a bounce back second-half campaign.

On Deck

The series with the Giants continues Saturday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET. Justin Verlander (2-4, 4.11 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets after going five scoreless innings against the Brewers in his last start. For the Giants, it will be Anthony DeSclafani (4-7, 4.28 ERA) getting the start. The game will be broadcast on SNY.