Jon Rauch inserted into a tight game has become suicide for the Mets.
The veteran reliever didn’t mince any words yesterday after surrendering a ninth-inning home run to Russell Martin that sent the Mets to a 5-4 loss to the Yankees.
“He [bleeping] hit it a mile, and that cost the game,” Rauch said. “I made a couple of good pitches and hung one, and he hit the [bleep] out of it.”
It’s becoming Rauch’s specialty. Last Monday he entered a 3-3 game against the Cardinals in the eighth inning and surrendered a two-run homer to Allen Craig that sent the Mets to a loss. After the game, Rauch was shut down for three days to rest a sore elbow.
Rauch (3-6) has an 8.31 ERA over his last 11 games after a strong April. His six losses match the most of any reliever in baseball.
“It [ticks] me off I’m not doing my job — yeah, it’s frustrating,” Rauch said. “I’m glad I keep getting opportunities to go out there and pitch, but it’s pretty disheartening to keep going out there and making mistakes and it’s costing us games.
“It’s my job to pitch. I’m out there to get the guys out and historically I’ve done a pretty good job on it, but I’ve been pretty horse[bleep] this year.”
He’s got company in a bullpen that has a 5.55 ERA, the worst in the major leagues. The bullpen’s 13 blown saves are also the most in the majors.
Frank Francisco was told to be ready for a tie game in the ninth, but manager Terry Collins changed his mind and sent Rauch back to the mound after the righty had struck out Raul Ibanez to end the eighth. This after Bobby Parnell surrendered two runs on four hits, allowing the Yankees to take a 4-3 lead in the inning.
Martin, who had hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Jon Niese, pounded a 3-2 slider from Rauch into the left-field seats to end the game.
“You’ve got the bottom of the lineup up, you kind of like the matchups,” Collins said. “We got Frankie ready for the middle of the lineup and we just didn’t get them out. The other day [Rauch’s] elbow was an issue and we thought we got it handled. He says he feels fine, and that was it.”
mpuma@nypost.com