MLB

Terry Collins gets the boot in latest Mets loss

The Mets lost again on Wednesday, for the seventh time in eight games.

At least manager Terry Collins didn’t have to see all of it.

The manager was tossed in the fifth inning of the Mets’ 3-1 loss to the Brewers at Citi Field, one day after snapping a six-game losing streak.

Though the call in the fifth that didn’t go the Mets’ way didn’t help, there were plenty of other reasons they dipped back to seven games under .500 (29-36) matching a season-high.

They were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left Jacob deGrom still searching for his first major league win after six starts.

Collins’ message to the rookie was simple — and realistic.

“You’ve got to go out there and continue to work and continue to pitch well,” the manager said, “and one of these days we’re going to get a big hit for him and he’s going to get that win.”

When that big hit comes, however, is anyone’s guess.

For a brief moment on Tuesday, when Taylor Teagarden connected on a two-out, two-strike pitch for a grand slam, it seemed that maybe the Mets’ offense had righted itself.

That thought was premature.

Curtis Granderson led off the bottom of the second Wednesday night with a walk and got to third on Bobby Abreu’s single to left. Lucas Duda drove him in with a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

But they weren’t able to produce anything after that.

Granderson’s one-out double in the fourth was wasted, and in the seventh, Duda was allowed to hit against southpaw Zach Duke while representing the potential tying run, despite his difficulties with lefties on the mound.

Collins, who already had been ejected, didn’t seem to think Duda should have been lifted for someone such as Eric Campbell.

“You’ve got to look down the road at the big picture,” Collins said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get Lucas Duda to hit lefties like he did when he got here, to use the whole field. He’s got the ability to do it.”

Perhaps, but as is so often the case with the Mets, it hasn’t resulted in success.

And it leaves deGrom with almost no margin for error.

He gave up three singles in the first but managed to get out of the inning without surrendering any runs, however it took him 30 pitches to finish the frame.

DeGrom’s job wasn’t made any easier when Duda dropped a foul pop-up near the Mets dugout in the opening inning or when Granderson misplayed Aramis Ramirez’s fourth-inning fly to left into a double.

Ramirez eventually came around to score to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead.

Milwaukee added another run in the fifth, which proved to be plenty of insurance.

In the bottom of the inning, Teagarden appeared to beat out a grounder to first when Mark Reynolds booted the ball, but Teagarden was called out. Collins challenged the call, which was upheld after review.

Under the new system managers aren’t allowed to argue calls, and after home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom gave Collins a minute to vent, he ejected the manager, who was replaced by bench coach Bob Geren.

“Gary handled it just like he’s supposed to,” Collins said. “He said, ‘The play stands and I’ve got nothing else to tell you.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got something to say.’ I knew when I left the dugout what was going to happen. … Sometimes, you’ve got to have an answer.”

Collins didn’t get one from Cederstrom. And he didn’t get the answer he wanted from his team, either.