Mets cough up early lead in crushing loss to rival Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — The first rule of playing the Phillies, especially in their ballpark, is don’t get lulled to sleep after building an early lead.

Minus Francisco Lindor, the Mets still appeared in a comfortable place Saturday after jumping to a four-run advantage in the third inning.

But that was all for the Mets’ scoring, and the Phillies stormed through a door left ajar.

Reed Garrett got a tough out in the seventh inning, but couldn’t finish the job, surrendering a double to Cal Stevenson that scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the Mets’ 6-4 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Lindor, bothered by lower back soreness, missed his first game of the season.

Luisangel Acuna started at shortstop in his MLB debut and went 2-for-4 with two singles.

“Of course, every time you don’t have Lindor in the lineup, it’s going to be a different lineup,” Luis Severino said. “But I feel like we scored runs and the guys gave us a chance to win the game today.”

But the drumbeat stopped after the Mets had taken a 4-0 lead in the third.

Included was Stevenson’s larceny — his leaping catch at the center field fence in the eighth robbed J.D. Martinez of a game-tying homer.

“I thought we hit some balls hard against [Taijuan] Walker,” said manager Carlos Mendoza, referring to the former Mets pitcher who fired three scoreless innings in relief. “But he shut us down for a few innings and gave them a chance and they got back in the game. Their bullpen is deep and once they went to their bullpen they were going to be pretty tough.”

Mendoza had indicated before the game that Lindor might be a pinch-hitting option, but decided against using him.

“At that point if we’re talking about a lower back he’s got to go through a series of exercises just to get ready,” Mendoza said. “At that point I said, ‘Let’s just give him a day.’ ”

Lindor after the game said his back was feeling better than a night earlier, when he departed with soreness following awkward baserunning in which he stood up at second base rather than slide into the bag on a double. But he’ll have to wait until Sunday before evaluating his readiness to play in the series finale.

The Mets have another potential injury to watch, after Starling Marte was drilled in the left forearm by a pitch in the eighth inning. Marte remained in the game, but was to receive X-rays on the forearm.

The Met fell back into a tie for the third wild-card spot with the Braves, who pounded the Dodgers 10-1 later in the night.

Severino allowed just three hits over six innings, but two of them were homers to Bryce Harper.

The right-hander surrendered three earned runs and struck out five with one walk before departing at 86 pitches.

Marte’s bases-loaded walk against lefty Kolby Allard in the first inning gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Jose Iglesias singled leading off the game and with two outs Pete Alonso, Martinez and Marte walked in succession.

Francisco Alvarez, swinging at the first pitch, was retired to leave the bases loaded.

The Mets extended their lead to 4-0 in the third inning.

Kody Clemens’ throwing error after gloving Alonso’s grounder brought in the inning’s first run before Marte delivered a two-run triple.

The rally started with Mark Vientos’ leadoff double and Brandon Nimmo’s ensuing single.

Allard was removed after three innings in which he allowed four runs, one unearned, on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

But that was it for Mets runs, in large part because of Walker’s three scoreless innings.

Harper homered in the fourth to bring the Phillies within 4-1 after Severino had retired the first 10 batters he faced. It was the first home run surrendered by Severino in his last three starts.

Harper returned in the sixth to swat a two-run homer that sliced the Met lead to 4-3.

Trea Turner walked with two outs before Harper, in an at-bat that lasted seven pitches, cleared the right-field fence on a sweeper at the bottom of the strike zone.

Danny Young surrendered consecutive singles to Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto to begin the seventh.

After Brandon Marsh’s sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third, Garrett entered to strike out pinch hitter Weston Wilson.

But Stevenson jumped on a full-count cutter and smacked a two-run double that placed the Mets in a 5-4 hole.

“I thought it was a good pitch,” Garrett said. “If I walk him that’s a worse at-bat than trying to make the pitch and trying to put a good swing on it. Unfortunately, it didn’t go my way.”

Martinez led off the eighth with a shot that appeared destined to land in the Phillies bullpen, but Stevenson reached above the fence just right of center to rob Martinez of a game-tying homer.

Realmuto delivered an RBI double in the eighth against Ryne Stanek that extended the Phillies lead to 6-4.

“I don’t think this is going to detract from anything going forward,” Garrett said. “We all believe in ourselves and what we can accomplish.”