PITTSBURGH — The Mets’ lineup is often naked enough when David Wright plays, but subtract the team captain and arrests can be made for public indecency.
Bartolo Colon had next to nothing on this humid day, but anything short of dominance by the veteran probably wasn’t going to be enough for the Mets, anyway.
Futile in their attempt to hit with runners in scoring position, the Mets were flattened 5-2 by the Pirates at PNC Park on Sunday.
The Mets (37-45) lost three of four games in the series, going 2-for-15 (.133) with runners in scoring position in the finale. The road trip continues Monday in Atlanta, where the Mets will open a three-game series against the first-place Braves.
Wright, who was diagnosed Saturday with a bruised left rotator cuff, could return to the lineup as soon as Monday after missing the last three games.
Edinson Volquez (6-6) allowed eight hits over six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. The Mets scored exactly two runs in each of their three losses in the series.
“We just didn’t get the key hits,” Travis d’Arnaud said. “For example, I didn’t come up clutch in that [sixth] inning and rolled into a double play.”
Contact wasn’t an issue — the Mets outhit the Pirates 13-8 — but finishing the job remains a problem. The Mets are batting .229 with runners in scoring position. In such situations with two outs, they are batting .193.
“We left a lot of guys at third base, without a doubt,” manager Terry Collins said. “You think you’re out of it, you think you’re swinging good, and it comes back.”
The Mets prevented the shutout in the ninth on Chris Young’s RBI ground out. Ruben Tejada then delivered a two-out RBI single.Curtis Granderson had a frustrating series for the Mets, finishing 0-for-17, but came close on several occasions to clearing the fences. At least two of his outs Sunday were hit with authority.
“You talk about the game and how close you are to doing some things,” Collins said. “Grandy, in the last three games, he’s had six, eight, 10 fly balls that he’s close to hitting homers. It’s just a matter of a week ago, everything he hits he was squaring it up. Now he’s just a quarter-inch off and they become fly balls instead of homers.”
In his worst performance in six weeks, Colon (8-6) allowed five earned runs on eight hits and one walk over six innings with two strikeouts. The veteran right-hander had not pitched so poorly since May 12 at Yankee Stadium, when he allowed seven runs over 5 ²/₃ innings. His last loss had come on May 6 at Miami.
“I just think because I’ve already gone against [the Pirates] once, they probably prepared and knew what I was coming with,” Colon said.
“I try not to look too much into it. I just had a bad [first] inning and I’m just going to have to prepare for the next one, but not change anything up in what I do.”
Pedro Alvarez’s two-run homer against Colon in the fourth put the Mets in a 5-0 hole. Josh Harrison’s double leading off the inning started the rally.
Ike Davis’ two-run single in the first was the highlight of a four-hit inning for the Pirates. Alvarez also drove in a run with a two-out double.
“I was surprised as anybody,” Collins said, referring to Colon’s sluggish first inning. “Especially after the leadoff hitter rolled over a grounder, I said, ‘He’s got the sinker working today, this could be a quick game.’ Then you look up and they’ve got three [runs]. We don’t come back a lot of times when we’re down three.”