PITTSBURGH — What’s next for the Mets, the bubonic plague?
A 3-1 loss to the Pirates last night appeared to be the least of Jerry Manuel’s worries in light of a swine-flu scare, Carlos Beltran’s up-in-the-air medical status and the loss of yet another position player due to injury — all in the span of about six hours.
With all that swirling around their already-depleted lineup, the Mets’ second loss in as many days to the lowly Pirates almost seemed like an afterthought.
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Shortstop Ramon Martinez — dubbed “a backup to a backup” by Manuel — is the latest Met apparently headed for the disabled list after dislocating his left pinky on an awkward slide at home in the fifth inning.
The Mets already were playing short-handed with Jose Reyes and Ryan Church on the DL and Beltran undergoing tests here to determine the source of the stomach ailment that sidelined him for the third game in a row last night. Just call them the ReplaceMets.
“We’re pretty thin right now,” Manuel said, shaking his head. “We lose a backup to a backup, and you know we’re getting pretty thin. But we’ve got to keep battling. We’ve got to get a couple of big guys hot. It’s difficult enough with the kind of the depletion of the lineup.”
Unfortunately for Manuel and the Mets, their few remaining big guys — David Wright and 40-year-old Gary Sheffield — were anything but hot last night in support of Johan Santana.
Wright and Sheffield were a combined 1-for-8, and that wasn’t going to get it done with the Mets sporting a rookie in left field (Fernando Martinez) and a replacement shortstop who was playing in Korea last year (Wilson Valdez).
It also wasn’t going to get it done when the Mets were giving away outs on the basepaths.
Jeremy Reed, Beltran’s replacement in center field, appeared to run through a stop sign at third base in the third inning and was thrown out at home.
Santana (7-3) also didn’t help himself with another surprisingly short outing in which he looked very hittable.
The Mets’ ace lasted just six innings and 85 pitches, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out three.
Santana cruised through the Pittsburgh lineup the first time around, then suddenly struggled the rest of the way.
He allowed the first homer of rookie catcher Jason Jaramillo’s big-league career in the fifth, then exited after giving up the deciding runs in the sixth on a single and back-to-back doubles.
“They were aggressive, swinging right away and putting the ball in play, and they took advantage of those hits,” Santana said. “After that, it was a hitter’s situation, and they put me out of the game.”
Santana’s velocity appeared to be down, with his fastball consistently reading in the low 90s, and Manuel said the lefty “might have had a couple of flat pitches.”
Santana, though, insists his recent rough stretch — for him — has nothing to do with his health.
“I feel fine,” Santana said. “It’s not about how hard you’re throwing or anything. It’s about how you’re approaching the game and what kind of pitches you are throwing. It’s just that things are not working right now.”
That goes double for the limping, paper-thin Mets.
“It seems contagious,” Wright said of the torrent of injuries. “Guys go down. Unfortunately, injuries are part of the game. We’ve run into some bad luck. When you’re going through your second wave and then the third game, obviously it’s tough.”
bhubbuch@nypost.com