Another ugly finish as Mets lose to Dodgers, skid hits 4

Picking out the problem in the Mets’ 5-1 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday night presents the same conundrum as picking out the problem in their season: There is no one simple answer.

On the year, the hitting, starting pitching and relief pitching have underwhelmed. This time, it was Pete Alonso’s bad throw at a bad time, a major missed opportunity to tie the score late and a bit of unluckiness when they scorched a bunch of balls early.

Altogether, it meant another loss for the Mets. That makes four in a row. They are 42-50.

In two games against the Dodgers, the Mets have totaled one run and four hits.

“Not good enough,” Adam Ottavino, who allowed the tie-breaking run, said of the team’s overall play. “I don’t know how else to really say it.”

Los Angeles (53-38) jumped ahead in the top of the eighth after a couple of well-placed ground balls off Ottavino sneaked through the right side of the infield for singles. That brought up David Peralta for the key at-bat with runners on the corners and one out.

Peralta sent a bouncer to Alonso at first. Alonso had maybe a second to decide: Throw home to get Max Muncy, the go-ahead run? Or try to start an inning-ending double play, which also would keep the score tied?

He went for the latter and his throw to second base was high, causing shortstop Francisco Lindor to have to jump for it. Lindor corralled the ball fine and stepped on the base for the second out of the frame, but his relay throw to first was barely late.

Peralta was safe. Muncy scored. The Dodgers led.

“My momentum was already going to second, and as you’re taught, you throw the ball where your momentum is taking you,” Alonso said. “I made an OK throw. It wasn’t a perfect throw, but it was OK. If I would’ve made just a good throw I feel like just a split-second earlier [it would’ve worked] . . . I don’t regret making my decision of throwing to second. Just wish I could’ve executed it a little bit better.”

In the moments after the inning ended, the Citi Field crowd let out two more rounds of boos — first at the Mets, then at the stadium’s karaoke fan poll, a between-innings gimmick new this year, which showed “Mr. Brightside” edging previous eighth-inning tradition “Piano Man” 43% to 42%.

The Mets created a ripe scoring chance in the bottom of the inning, putting runners at the corners with none out. But lefthander Caleb Ferguson retired the next three batters on eight total pitches: Mark Canha (first-pitch pop-out), Brett Baty (three-pitch strikeout), Luis Guillorme (four-pitch strikeout).

“I would not agree with ‘noncompetitive,’ ” manager Buck Showalter said of those at-bats.

Baty’s dropped pop-up in the top of the ninth helped the Dodgers rally for three runs.

Righthander Kodai Senga (six innings, one run) and Dodgers righty Tony Gonsolin (five innings, one run) kept the score tied through the middle innings.

Facing one of the most potent lineups in the majors, Senga again was sharp, striking out nine and walking two. He scattered four hits, but only one of them really mattered: Mookie Betts’ home run in the third. He swung at a 98-mph fastball on the outer edge of the strike zone and barely cleared the rightfield wall to put the Dodgers ahead.

“It just highlighted how great of a hitter he is,” Senga, who lowered his ERA to 3.20, said through an interpreter. “And moving forward, I want to be the type of pitcher that can get those types of hitters out.”

Gonsolin got pulled after 54 pitches at least partially because the Mets were hammering him — even if they had little to show for it. Brandon Nimmo’s homer accounted for the only run. Ten of their 12 batted balls against Gonsolin registered as hard-hit.

“It stinks,” Alonso said. “For sure. Especially when you have a good at-bat, you capitalize on a pitch. As a hitter, you just wish that you could have a magic wand and make the ball find grass or a seat. But it doesn’t work that way.”

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.