It was a weekend to forget for the Mets.
Sunday afternoon’s 9-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Citi Field marked the Mets’ most lopsided defeat of the year.
It capped the first series in which they’ve been swept all season.
Some of the biggest cheers of the afternoon came when Jared Young, a position player who was forced into pitching duty, got Kameron Misner to fly out to end the top of the ninth.
Many within a sellout crowd of 42,804 left early on Father’s Day as the game got out of hand.
Mets starter Griffin Canning delivered his worst outing of the season, while Rays right-hander Shane Baz dominated over 6.2 innings.
Tampa Bay capped a weekend of bunts, taking the extra base, and capitalizing on mistakes with more of the same on Sunday afternoon.
For the third game in a row, the Rays rode a big inning to victory. They scored three runs in the top of the second, despite hitting only one ball out of the infield.
After Canning walked the first two batters of the inning, Rays speedster José Caballero loaded the bases with a well-placed bunt single in front of Brett Baty, who took an initial step toward third base before fielding the ball.
The Rays scored their first run when Misner grounded into an RBI force out, then pushed across another when Canning threw a wild pitch.
Danny Jansen followed with an RBI single just over a leaping Luisangel Acuña, who started at shortstop with Francisco Lindor serving as the designated hitter.
The Rays went up 4-0 in the third inning after Junior Caminero walked, went from first to third on Jonathan Aranda’s single, and scored on a Jake Mangum forceout.
The Mets had a chance to answer in the bottom of the third, loading the bases with two outs for Pete Alonso. But Alonso struck out on a high, 99-mph fastball from Baz on a 3-2 count to extinguish the threat.
Canning entered Sunday with a 3.22 ERA, but he was tagged for six earned runs in 4.1 innings. The right-hander issued a season-high five walks, marking the third time in five starts that Canning walked at least four batters.
It was only the second time this season — and the first in 38 games — that a Mets starter surrendered more than four earned runs.
In stark contrast, Baz limited the Mets to three hits, all of which were singles. Behind his upper-90s fastball and a swing-and-miss knuckle curve, the right-hander worked around four walks and struck out six.
The Mets finished 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 baserunners. Juan Soto flew out against reliever Cole Sulser with the bases loaded to end the game.
Alonso had reached base in 22 consecutive games, but that streak came to an end Sunday as the slugger went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a double play.
The Rays put the finishing touches on their big weekend when 21-year-old phenom Junior Caminero drilled a three-run home run off Ryne Stanek in the ninth.
The Mets had not been swept since a three-game series in Seattle last August, nor had they lost a game by more than six runs this season.
They entered the series against the Rays with a 27-7 record at home — the best start in franchise history.
But Tampa Bay won Friday night’s series opener, 7-5, behind a six-run sixth inning, then won Saturday’s game, 8-4, on the strength of a five-run fourth. The Rays also reached on a bunt and scored on a wild pitch during Saturday’s rally.
The Mets are now 10-2 in series at home, with the other loss coming more than a month ago against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The three-game losing streak matches as a season-long for the Mets. This one came at an inopportune time, as the second-place Philadelphia Phillies swept the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, cutting their deficit in the National League East behind the Mets to 2.5 games.
The Mets will look to rebound during a six-game road trip against a pair of division rivals. They are scheduled to begin a three-game series in Atlanta on Tuesday, then go to Philadelphia for another three-game set.
