The Mets dropped Sunday's series finale at the Milwaukee Brewers, blowing a five-run lead on their way to a 7-6 walk-off defeat that leaves them with a season-high-tying seven-game losing streak.
"It's hard to describe — off, frustrating, but we've got to turn the page," said New York manager Carlos Mendoza. "We've got to keep going. We've got to find a way to start getting a victory here. That wasn't a good showing there. They pretty much outplayed us."
Mendoza's Mets (63-55) have lost 11 of their past 12 games. They are 5.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East Division and 1.5 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the third wild card.
"We've got to go out and do it," Mendoza said. "We're going to keep saying it. The bottom line — we've got to go out and do it. I'm going to keep saying we've got the talent, we've got the players. But until we start playing better and getting the job done, we continue to believe in the guys — and we will. It's tough. I know it's tough right now. It's very frustrating. We are all very frustrated. But we've got to keep going. We've got to keep going. Nobody said it was going to be easy."
New York has Monday off before returning to Citi Field for a six-game homestand. The stretch begins with a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves, led by Tuesday's 7:10 p.m. opener on SNY.
"We haven't played well for quite a bit now, and that's what happens," Mendoza said. "We can't be looking at the standings. We've got to start getting the job done — that simple. We can't sit here and start looking back. There's no looking back. Like I said, we've got to get the job done — and we will. We'll turn it around."
The Mets turn to right-hander Clay Holmes (9-6, 3.46 ERA) Tuesday after southpaw Sean Manaea allowed four runs on six hits (one homer) while striking out five and walking two in four innings Sunday.
"It's a lot," Manaea (1-1, 4.33 ERA) said of the Mets losing seven in a row. "It's frustrating. No one wants to be here. But at the end of the day, we've just got to get through it. There's no way around it."
Closer Edwin Diaz, who got New York out of a two-out jam in the eighth inning before allowing Isaac Collins' game-winning home run to lead off the ninth, kept a positive outlook.
"It's tough," Diaz said. "We know we've got a really good team here. We've got a really good group. We've just got to stay together, stick together, keep playing baseball. We know we can turn it around. On Tuesday, we can come back and play really good baseball. So, just stay together and keep fighting."
Before the 11-of-12 slide, the Mets went on a season-high-tying seven-game winning streak from July 20-27. They have won six games or more four times this season, and Brandon Nimmo sees the potential for another one.
"We can go on a run," Nimmo said. "We've still got time. But it just takes putting it together, playing some good baseball. I don't think the division's slipping away. We're still within shot, and we've been known — this team, specifically — to go on runs. So, we can easily rattle off a winning streak, especially with the people that we've got in here. But, yeah, it's going to take, obviously, turning it around."
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