With the Mets hanging on for their lives in a tense Wild Card race that has all but collapsed, Zack Wheeler took the mound looking to build on his streak of four starts in a row allowing only one earned run.

Wheeler’s evening began shakily, with Phil Ervin leading off with a single followed by Joey Votto doing what he does best in drawing a walk. After Eugenio Suarez reached on a Todd Frazier fielding error to load the bases, Aristides Aquino singled home the first run of the game as the line kept moving.

Wheeler finally got an out by blasting three 98 mph fastballs by Tucker Barnhart, but then allowed a bloop single to Jose Iglesias to bring in another run. With the first inning on the brink of disaster, Wheeler induced a popout and a groundout as he escaped the frame with only two runs allowed, and just one earned.

Wheeler clamped down and started to get in a groove after that, allowing just a one-out single in each of the next two innings. He continued to throw a perfect fourth, having recorded four total strikeouts to that point.

Wheeler’s rhythm was disrupted immediately in the fifth, after Votto doubled and Suarez singled to put runners on the corners. However, Wheeler was able to escape again, blowing a fastball by Aquino to strike him out, then inducing a flyout from Barnhart and a forceout from Iglesias.

When all was said and done, Wheeler allowed just two runs (one earned) in seven innings on seven hits and one walk while striking out six. It was not a bad effort at all especially considering how shaky he looked at the beginning, and it brought his streak of allowing one earned run to five.

Wheeler attributed his recent run to “consistency with all my pitches. Slider’s come around, changeup’s gotten a lot better as the year’s progressed. The curveball’s usually always there.”

The Mets, however, could not support Wheeler’s solid start as they fell to 4.5 games back of Milwaukee for the second Wild Card spot, and in even more dire need for some wins.

“You just got to put your head down and keep grinding,” Wheeler emphasized after the loss. “We put ourselves in that position, so it’s up to us to get out of it. […] It’s coming down to crunch time so we need to win some ballgames.”

The Mets are certainly in panic mode at this point, having nearly run out of opportunities to make a miraculous comeback and their playoff hopes just barely hanging on by a thread.

Regardless of the final outcome of this rollercoaster season for the Mets, Wheeler’s strong finish to the year has been a positive sign. Despite suffering through a brief blip in the middle of the second half and dealing with consistency issues all season long, Wheeler managed to lower his ERA to 3.99 in Saturday’s no-decision.

Assuming the Mets don’t make the playoffs, Wheeler will likely only have one more regular season start this year.