MLB

Mets fall to Nats as Montero gets pounded in return to bigs

The Mets continue to insist they aren’t dead yet.

Maybe not, but their season is fading fast.

It took another hit on Tuesday, as they got steamrolled, 7-1, by Washington at Citi Field.

After calling up Rafael Montero to replace the injured Jacob deGrom in the rotation, Montero responded by surrendering three homers in five-plus innings, falling to 0-3.

“It’s very concerning,” manager Terry Collins said of Montero’s penchant for giving up homers. “We’ve got to figure out what he’s doing. You see he’s got the weapons to be successful. He’s got to learn to locate and when to use them.”

That’s just one issue facing the Mets these days.

Another is that the loss sent them back to six games under .500, making their talk of a stretch run somewhat implausible.

“It’s exciting now because I think September is going to mean something,” Collins said before the rout. “We’re going to go into September and I don’t know where we’re going to be in the standings, but I think it’s going to have meaning.”

When told of Collins’ comments, general manager Sandy Alderson said that expectation was “legitimate.”

That case would be difficult to make considering where the Mets are now.

Their offense was mostly lifeless against Washington starter Doug Fister (12-3), who threw seven shutout innings, seemingly unaffected by the 25-minute rain delay in the top of third.

Montero, who appeared in four games for the Mets in May before heading back to Triple-A Las Vegas, will make another start, despite allowing more home runs (eight) than anyone in franchise history through his first five games.

Before the game, Alderson defended the decision to bring up Montero over the organization’s other top pitching prospect, Noah Syndergaard, saying it was based on “merit.”

“We have a very high regard for Noah, there’s no question about that,” Alderson said. “But Rafael has been pitching great and merited the promotion.”

And it wasn’t a difficult choice.

“Not for me, no,” said Alderson, who also pointed to Syndergaard’s inning limit and the fact Montero’s missed time earlier in the year means he likely won’t face restrictions going forward.

Those waiting for Syndergaard’s arrival from Las Vegas might not want to hold their breath.

“He is ramping up from a different level since last year,” Alderson said of the right-hander, who is spending his first season in Triple-A and also isn’t on the 40-man roster. “It’s conceivable he wouldn’t be up here. It’s also possible he will be. We’ll see how it goes.”

At this point, it hardly seems to matter — although Alderson said finishing at .500 is “definitely a goal of ours.”

Washington’s goal is the NL East title and the Nationals played like it in front of an announced crowd of 21,200 — most of whom must have spent the game dodging raindrops under their seats.

They also had to watch out for home runs, as Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Ian Desmond and Michael A. Taylor all went deep, as the Nationals won their ninth straight game in Queens.

The Mets didn’t score until the eighth, when pinch-hitter Eric Campbell hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Daniel Murphy.

“The nice thing is at this point, we’ve got about eight candidates for the starting rotation next year — at least,” Alderson said. “That’s a good thing. It’s something we have to manage. I’m not sure we have an equal number of candidates to play shortstop or left field or what have you.”

Hard to argue that.