PHOENIX — On a positive note for the Mets, their bullpen didn’t blow the game Sunday.
That’s what happens when your starting pitcher sputters, in a rare lackluster performance, and the lineup behind him departs for the airport around the fourth inning to beat traffic.
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Another awful road trip concluded with a smackdown, as the Mets lost 7-1 to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field to fall three games below .500.
“I would say we’re frustrated,” Steven Matz said. “We think we can do better than the way we have been playing.”
The Mets lost five of seven games on the trip, lowlighted by soul-crushing bullpen implosions Wednesday and Saturday in which Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia, respectively, were the central figures.
Overall, the Mets are 4-17 on the road since late-April, a statistic that suggests they will be kissing the clubhouse carpeting at Citi Field when they return Tuesday to face the Giants.
A lineup that has performed respectably over the Past two weeks, showed nothing against 30-year-old rookie Merrill Kelly, who limited the Mets to one run on six hits with 10 strikeouts over 7 ²/₃ innings. Wilson Ramos’ second-inning homer accounted for the Mets’ only scoring.
“That guy [Kelly] obviously had a good game,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “But we can’t allow people to have the best games of their career against us. You have to give some credit to that guy, he was in Korea last year battling for his [career] and he comes up in the big leagues, but we can’t allow people in general to throw the best games of their career against us.”
It came a day after the Mets scored four runs over four innings against Arizona ace Zack Greinke.
“We beat up on Greinke, who is one of the better pitchers in the league,” Callaway said. “And then you have a day like today, that kind of inconsistency is just not going to win you games. That is why we are where we are in the standings and what our record looks like right now, because we’re just too inconsistent.”
In his worst performance in six weeks, Matz (4-4) surrendered five earned runs on eight hits over six innings. The left-hander continued his road troubles — away from Citi Field he has pitched to a 5.79 ERA in seven starts this season. Sunday marked only the second time in 11 starts this season that Matz allowed more than three runs.
Matz allowed four straight two-out singles in the fifth that yielded two runs and put the Mets behind 5-1. Eduardo Escobar, Adam Jones, Christian Walker and Ildemaro Vargas singled in succession to extend Arizona’s lead, after a three-run first inning.
Hector Santiago allowed two runs in the eighth to complete the Diamondbacks’ bite, a day after Familia and Robert Gsellman combined to blow a four-run lead in the eighth before the Mets lost on a walkoff in the 11th.
Matz’s persistent first-inning troubles continued by allowing two homers that gave the Diamondbacks a 3-0 lead. The lefty has surrendered 12 homers overall this season, seven of which have come in the first inning. That includes three leadoff blasts. For his career Matz owns a 7.14 ERA in the first inning.
“I think today I just made a couple of mistakes in the first inning,” Matz said. “I don’t think it’s a first-inning thing.”
Ketel Marte, leading off, smashed Matz’s third pitch of the game for a homer. Tom Locastro singled, and Eduardo Escobar hit a two-run homer.
“I am kind of getting sick of saying, ‘We have to right this ship,’ ” Callaway said. “We have got to get it done.”