Mets can’t complete sweep against Marlins in disappointing end to series

Good wasn’t good enough for the weekend.

After winning the first two games of this series against the depleted Marlins, the Mets — with a challenging schedule ahead — needed to finish business Sunday with a sweep.

Instead they received a weak offensive performance and shoddy bullpen work in a 3-2 loss at Citi Field that left the Mets at 3-3 on the homestand.

Their next 10 games feature the Orioles, Padres and Diamondbacks — all strong playoff contenders — so Sunday was nothing less than an opportunity lost for the Mets, who are two games behind Atlanta for the NL’s third wild card.

In a game Brandon Nimmo departed before the eighth inning with right shoulder soreness following a diving catch — he will undergo an MRI exam today — the Mets went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and watched Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett flush a late lead.

“You would like to do better facing the teams that aren’t necessarily in playoff contention,” said Nimmo, whose Mets lost two of three games against the A’s last week.

“But also we had a little bit of a rough go there for the schedule [on the last road trip]. You would have liked to do better, but these [upcoming] games mean as much to them as they do to us, so there will be a lot of pressure riding on these games and when that happens, I think it brings a lot of the best out of teams and people and you’re going to see some real competitive games over these next couple of weeks.”

The Mets’ last shot Sunday came in the ninth, but after Jose Iglesias and Tyrone Taylor reached on successive singles to begin the inning, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor and Mark Vientos were retired in succession.

McNeil, with runners on first and second, was unsuccessful in his attempts to sacrifice bunt before striking out. Lindor followed with a shot that, off the bat, initially appeared as if it would win the game for the Mets. But Derek Hill tracked it in deep center.

“I thought it had a chance at least of hitting the wall,” Lindor said. “I didn’t think I fully got it. I am obviously not strong enough to hit it dead center.”

Paul Blackburn gave the Mets a third strong start in four since joining the club at the trade deadline. The right-hander lasted six innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk with four strikeouts over 92 pitches.

Vientos got thrown out at the plate to end the first after tagging up from second base on Pete Alonso’s long drive to center field. On the play, Hill — who hit the fence and fell — flipped the ball to right fielder Jesus Sanchez, who fired to the cutoff. Vientos had easily reached third and received the green light from coach Mike Sarbaugh, but was tagged out at the plate following a strong throw for a unique 8-9-4-2 double play.

“It took them two perfect throws and it was early in the game,” manager Carlos Mendoza said in defending Sarbaugh’s decision to send Vientos.

Taylor tried for a diving catch in center on Otto Lopez’s line drive in the third, but missed. Lopez raced to third with a leadoff triple and scored the game’s first run on Nick Fortes’ sacrifice fly.

Lindor’s RBI single tied it 1-1 in the fifth. Jesse Winker singled leading off the inning and Jose Iglesias walked. Lindor delivered with two outs, but Vientos struck out to leave two runners on base.

Nimmo crushed Valente Bellozo’s second pitch of the sixth inning for a homer to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Nimmo jumped on a changeup and sent it into the second deck in right field.

The blast was Nimmo’s second of the series, after returning from a stomach bug that sidelined him on Thursday.

Brazoban allowed the tying run in the seventh.

Following Emmanuel Rivera’s infield single that put runners on the corners, Brazoban unloaded a wild pitch that tied it 2-2.

Nimmo’s diving catch in left field robbed Fortes of a potential go-ahead single, ending the threat after Garrett entered with two outs and two runners on base.

But Nimmo, with the shoulder barking, departed after batting in the seventh.

Hill’s single against Phil Maton in the eighth put the Mets in a 3-2 hole. Garrett walked three batters in the inning, but picked off Xavier Edwards from second.

“The free bases, any time you are playing in a tie game like that, they are going to come back and bite you,” Mendoza said.