The boos showered upon Reed Garrett as he trudged off the field with his head bowed, the righty the focus of fan ire though far from the only target.
Fans certainly were not thrilled with the lineup during the Mets’ 7-2 matinee loss on Wednesday at Citi Field, though manager Carlos Mendoza looked smart in shifting Brandon Nimmo to leadoff and Francisco Lindor to the No. 2 hole in a bounce-back 7-3 nightcap victory.
They might not have been overjoyed with Clay Holmes, who took down just 5 ¹/₃ innings on the front end of a doubleheader.
And they were not happy with Mendoza, who elected to pull Holmes after 90 pitches from a game the club was leading.
The decision backfired, and what looked like an encouraging afternoon gave way to one more low point during a sixth-inning implosion.
The Mets opened a home stand by dropping a fourth straight game and a 14th in their past 17, beginning a long day Wednesday with a loss to the Brewers in which empty seats outnumbered fans.
“One thing we do well,” said Holmes, who was solid on an afternoon his bullpen and offense were not, “the other thing is kind of falling behind.”
Virtually every day the Mets, whose offense and pitching has synchronized a collapse, find another way to lose.
This time they grabbed a one-run lead that only made the impending crash all the more painful.
Up 2-1 in the sixth, Holmes walked Christian Yelich and induced a fly out from Jackson Chourio before Mendoza walked to the mound and lifted the big righty after 5 ¹/₃ effective, if wild, innings in which he had allowed one run up to that point.
Part of Mendoza’s rationale: Brewers lefties had gone 2-for-10 with a homer and four walks against Holmes, and the next three batters were two lefties and a switch-hitter — a trio Holmes had walked in succession in the fourth inning.
Part of Mendoza’s rationale: In his first season since being converted from a reliever, Holmes already has set his season high for innings.
Holmes walked a tightrope in stating he could have remained in the game but did not question the decision.
“You never want to get pulled, you want to keep going. Definitely a judgment call,” said Holmes, who was charged with two runs on three hits with four walks. “Definitely a hot day, definitely feel like I was feeling a little tired.”
Not part of Mendoza’s rationale: any desire to push Holmes further than usual given the doubleheader.
“We got some other guys that can cover 18 innings,” said Mendoza, whose aggressive decision to call for Garrett, his fireman, then blew up.
With his first two pitches, Garrett allowed a game-tying double to Brice Turang and a smacked single to Isaac Collins.
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After losing the lead, Garrett lost the strike zone in walking Jake Bauers and falling behind 3-0 on Joey Ortiz.
Ortiz, a light-hitting infielder, then pulled a 3-1 cutter into the left field seats for a grand slam that put the Brewers ahead by four runs — or the total output by the Mets while being swept in three games in Pittsburgh.
“It just sucked. No other way to put it,” said Garrett, who might have been caught off guard by how quickly in the at-bats Milwaukee ambushed him.
One of the best relievers in all of the game for more than two months has been human for nearly four weeks.
Garrett’s ERA has swelled from 0.68 to 3.31 over his past eight outings in which he has let up 10 earned runs in six innings.
“Today didn’t go my way,” said the oft-used Garrett, who said he physically feels OK. “But I know that when I’m right, I will figure it out.”
As the Mets offense is going, such a meltdown cannot be overcome.
They scored twice with the aid of two singles and small ball — Jeff McNeil taking off for second while Luis Torrens poked a single through the right side, which led to a Brett Baty sacrifice fly in the third and Juan Soto walking, stealing second and scoring on a Pete Alonso single in the fourth — and did not record a third hit.
Against Freddy Peralta and two relievers, the Mets went 0-for-18 with one hit-by-pitch to finish the game.
“There’s still belief in the room,” Holmes said. “Hopefully something sparks [us], we get some momentum and we start riding that again.”