PHILADELPHIA — In some ways, this was the Mets A-Team.
Five starts into his career, Nolan McLean has a legitimate case to be a Game 1 starter in the postseason.
Following the rookie righty were some of the best arms Carlos Mendoza could unleash short of Edwin Díaz — Gregory Soto, Brooks Raley, a rebounding and fireballing Ryan Helsley — to keep the game close.
Mendoza, who used every position player on his expanded roster besides Hayden Senger, managed as if winning were imperative.
The lineup did not receive the message in digging an NL East hole that looks insurmountable.
Bats that had rolled through August as the best in baseball have been held to eight total hits in the past two games.
Five hits (and no runs) were not enough in a series-opening setback against the Phillies, 1-0 at Citizens Bank Park on Monday, as the Mets fell to eight games back with 18 games remaining.
There was just a wisp of NL East hope entering play, but the Mets could have told themselves they could make up ground head-to-head in a four-game set against a club they swept two weeks ago.
Hopeless at-bats against Aaron Nola, David Robertson and Matt Strahm before virtually hopeless clutch at-bats against Jhoan Duran ensured that hope was gone.
“We’ve been pretty inconsistent,” Mendoza said after the Mets dropped a third straight and were temporarily 3 ½ games ahead in the wild-card race. “We put ourselves in this position, which we’re still right there, obviously. The goal is to win the division. We’re eight back now. … But we’ve got to keep going.”
Their offensive frustrations could be boiled down to two at-bats in the ninth inning and two at-bats from Cedric Mullins.
At long last, a potential Mets rally formed with a last shot against Duran, the best arm they would see all night.
Pete Alonso singled and Mark Vientos doubled to put the potential tying run on third and go-ahead run on second with one out.
But the best contact hitter the Mets have to offer could not make contact: Jeff McNeil narrowly missed a double down the first base line that fell foul before swinging through a 101.9 mph eyeblink.
“I thought Jeff had a very good at-bat,” said Mendoza, who then watched Francisco Alvarez sell out for a fastball in an at-bat that featured three breaking balls, all whiffs.
For the first eight innings, the Mets only had truly threatened in the second, when McNeil reached third and Brett Baty first with two outs.
But Mullins, whose funk is growing deeper with each game, chased a diving knuckle-curve to extinguish the rally.
The deadline pickup went 0-for-2 — and is 0-for-26 in his past 10 games — before being lifted for pinch hitter Luisangel Acuña in the eighth.
Acuña, who has become essentially a pinch runner and defensive replacement, flied out.
“It’s a rough start. Been trying to find that adjustment — felt like I had it at one point,” said Mullins, who added his timing has been off during a 30-game Mets tenure in which he is hitting .174 with a .556 OPS.
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A rehabbing Jose Siri is close to becoming an option, which would curtail Mullins’ time.
Wasted was a grittiness from McLean, who was not his sharpest but was when he needed to be in a fifth career start and fifth time impressing.
The spin master allowed just one run on seven hits with three walks in 5 ¹/₃ innings, navigating out of jams that cost him length, but yet again found a different way to impress.
Facing a strong Phillies lineup that already had seen him once — and had been shut out for eight strong innings — McLean noticed early on that Bryce Harper & Co. were sitting on his sweeper.
So he backed off what may be his best pitch and leaned more heavily on his fastballs, curveball and changeup.
And when he believed J.T. Realmuto had a feel for timing against him, he hesitated within his windup to help induce a pop-up.
“I got comfortable throwing everything for a strike and able to expand [outside the strike zone] as well, and just kind of trusting everything I do,” said McLean, whose nail on his middle finger ripped off in the second or third inning.
He shrugged it off.
The Mets then did the same to their division aspirations.