Mets can’t escape funk as skid hits four games after 10-inning loss to Giants

Ryan Helsley overpowering hitters with triple-digit heat. Cedric Mullins pinch-hitting in the ninth inning of a tie game. The top of the order showing signs of breaking out of its collective slump. 

There were flashes of the type of team that the post-deadline Mets hope to be. 

Just not enough of them. 

Edwin Díaz was hittable in the 10th, and the Mets offense did not do enough hitting all night in a series- and stretch-run-opening 4-3, extra-inning loss to the Giants in front of a sellout crowd of 42,777 at Citi Field on Friday. 

The Mets (62-48) have dropped four in a row after winning seven straight and continued a slump that adding the flamethrowing Helsley, funk-throwing Tyler Rogers and Mullins (who fouled out in his lone at-bat) did not immediately solve. 

In the deciding 10th inning, Díaz entered with the ghost runner on second and tried to miss bats, which he could not do. Matt Chapman’s ground out moved automatic runner Willy Adames to third. On a night with cameos from several former Mets, it was Dom Smith who knocked a single through a drawn-in infield for the go-ahead run.