MILWAUKEE — Dillon Gee hadn’t been this brutal in more than a year.
Proving again that starting pitching isn’t contagious, the Mets right-hander was transformed into a punching bag Thursday, a night after Bartolo Colon had visions of perfection dancing in his head.
The Mets were left to play catch-up, and fell woefully short in a 9-1 loss to the Brewers at Miller Park that snapped a two-game winning streak.
Gee (4-3) got pounded for a second straight start, allowing six runs in the first three innings, making it too easy for Matt Garza and his NL Central-leading Brewers.
“The ball is just not coming out right the last couple of starts,” Gee said.
About the only thing that went right for Gee was retiring the final eight batters he faced.
“Those last couple of innings it was funny,” Gee said. “I was like, ‘Well, they’re hitting everything, so let’s just throw it slower.’ I was just like, ‘Let’s see if they can hit a B.P. fastball.’ And then I started getting guys out, so it was just a weird night.”
Garza didn’t allow his second hit of the game until the seventh, when Lucas Duda homered. Wilmer Flores’ infield single in the third inning was the Mets’ only other hit.
Daisuke Matsuzaka replaced Gee in the sixth and promptly surrendered a leadoff homer to Khris Davis that widened the Mets’ deficit to 7-0. The Brewers’ third homer of the game, a two-run blast by Ryan Braun against Matsuzaka in the seventh, put the Mets in a 9-1 hole.
In his previous start, Gee allowed four earned runs over five innings in a loss to the Padres. Gee has pitched three times and lost twice since returning from a two-month hiatus because of a strained right lat.
“He needs the work,” manager Terry Collins said. “It’s quite obvious he needs to be out there pitching. He’s had two days where he threw 80 pitches, he threw 75 the day before he got here, so he needs the work. We know Dillon is better than that and he knows he’s better than that.”
This latest performance ranked as Gee’s worst since he allowed seven earned runs over three innings in a loss to the Phillies on April 9 of last season at Citizens Bank Park.
The Mets (48-54) may consider trading Gee before the non-waiver deadline next Thursday, but his stock is lower than it was two weeks ago.
Colon, who took a perfect game into the seventh inning on Wednesday in Seattle, could be more appetizing for a contender because of his big-game experience. But Colon will also earn $11 million next season, leaving Gee as perhaps the more marketable of the two pitchers.
Last season, Gee was among the NL’s best starters in the second half, and his performance this season was respectable before going on the disabled list on May 14.
Garza (7-7) allowed one run on two hits over eight innings with one walk and four strikeouts to beat the Mets for the first time in his career.
Duda accounted for the Mets’ only run with his career-high 16th home run. The Mets have not scored more than three runs in a game since last Friday, when they opened the second half with a 5-4 victory over the Padres.
Jean Segura’s two-run triple was the Brewers’ big hit in the second inning, when they scored four runs to take a 5-0 lead. Gee created the mess by walking Davis and Mark Reynolds successively with one out before Segura tripled in both runners.
Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy each delivered an RBI single to complete the carnage in the inning.
“The big inning was getting behind everybody and trying to make perfect pitches,” Gee said. “Then you fall behind and they earned it.”