MLB

Niese off mark; Mets drop series to Angels

Jon Niese wasn’t convinced after his previous start, which resulted in his third straight win, that he was making the step toward becoming a top pitcher.

“I want to say yes,” the Mets left-hander said after beating the Braves his last time out. “But at the same time, I’m just trying to keep the team in the game.”

BOX SCORE

Yesterday, Niese showed why he might have been right not to boast, getting yanked after four-plus innings in the Mets’ 7-3 loss to the Angels at Citi Field.

“When you don’t pitch and don’t hit at the same time, it’s gonna get ugly,” manager Terry Collins said. “And it got ugly.”

Niese gave up five runs, four earned, in what was tied for his shortest outing of the season.

“It seemed like they were on every pitch I threw,” he said.

The Angels scored four times in the first two innings, helped by good placement of a few flares and some mistakes from Niese, who fell to 6-6.

One strike away from getting out of the second inning without giving up a run, Niese hit Maicer Izturis with a 1-2 cutter to load the bases. After a visit from pitching coach Dan Warthen, Niese left a first-pitch sinker up to Erick Aybar, who ripped a bases-clearing triple to right.

“The way he’s been going, it might’ve caught some people by surprise because you expected him to go out there like he has been the last five or six starts,” Jason Bay said of Niese. “He’s been lights out.”

The Mets’ bats were asleep until the ninth. After being shut out by Tyler Chatwood for seven innings, they got to Bobby Cassevah in their last at-bat.

Three straight singles gave the Mets a brief ray of hope. And after an RBI groundout by Justin Turner and a run-scoring single by Carlos Beltran, Collins decided to pinch-hit for lefty-swinging cleanup hitter Daniel Murphy against southpaw Scott Downs with righty Scott Hairston.

The somewhat unusual move — another example of how much the lineup could use David Wright and Ike Davis back — nearly panned out, as Hairston appeared to beat out a grounder to short. But first-base umpire Mike Muchlinski called him out.

“I knew I was safe,” Hairston said. “After being down 7-0, for it to end that way is unfortunate.”

Collins said he was hoping Hairston, who has been hot of late, would hit a home run, which is why he replaced Murphy.

“If you look at the last few times Scott Hairston pinch-hit, he’s hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Collins said. “I thought if he hit the ball out of the ballpark there, it might create some energy.”

Instead, the Mets lost for the third time in four games since getting back to .500, the benchmark they just can’t seem to get over.

“A lot has been said about being .500,” Bay said. “Right now, it’s just more about trying to win a series, and obviously we didn’t do that. But by no means is it panic time.”

The Mets are off today before the A’s come to Citi Field tomorrow as interleague play continues. They hope to have Niese back in form the next time he takes the mound.

“[Sandy] Koufax was here today, and Sandy told me years ago that out of 30 starts, you’re gonna have your best stuff maybe five times and your worst stuff five times,” Collins said. “The rest of the time you’re gonna have to pitch.”

That’s the next thing Niese will have to figure out.

dan.martin@nypost.com