NEW YORK _ Paul Sewald took a mighty hack, sending the ball high up into the air, and the fans at Citi Field responded with the swelling roar of a crowd ready for a comeback.
Granted, the ball landed in Lorenzo Cain's glove in shallow center field for the first out of the sixth inning, but the sentiment remained. In the world the Mets have created these past few weeks, large deficits can be vanquished by middle relievers with iffy offensive credentials, and no effort is ever hopeless. But yes, even in that world, the Mets must lose sometimes, and lose they did Saturday night, 5-1, to the Brewers. It's only the second loss of the Mets' season, and it broke a nine-game winning streak.
Matt Harvey had something of a repeat of his middling performance last time out: After a dominant first inning, when he showcased a 95-mph fastball, he began to lose his way, giving up home runs to Jonathan Villar and Jett Bandy.
But unlike last time, the Mets (11-2) couldn't make up the deficit: They were stymied by Chase Anderson, who no-hit them for the first 42/3 of his 61/3 innings of work. Orlando Arcia also hit a solo home run, against Hansel Robles in the ninth.
The lone bright spot for the Mets was Sewald (no, not his flyout). His three perfect innings saved a taxed bullpen, and his five strikeouts were just another indication of the weapon the Mets have sitting on the benches in the little corner in right field.
Otherwise, Saturday was a departure from the familiar script the Mets have written. Though they allowed at least one run in 27 innings going into this game, they've won specifically because of their ability to respond: Out of those 27 innings, the Mets came back to score in 13.
But things didn't seem to be going in the Mets' favor from the get-go, when Villar's homer appeared to get an assist from the swirling wind in left. Harvey was already in the weeds at that point in the second inning, having given up a leadoff double to Travis Shaw before walking Domingo Santana. That's when Villar launched Harvey's 93-mph fastball to left, a ball that appeared to die as it reached the wall, only to (maybe) get a little help from nature's ceiling fan. It was Villar's first home run of the year.
The Brewers' second homer, however, was entirely man-made. With one out and nobody on in the fourth, Bandy hit Harvey's 0-and-2 91-mph fastball deep into the seats in left-center to give the Brewers a 4-0 advantage.
Meanwhile, the Mets ... did a whole lot of nothing.
After weeks of sheer dominance, the Mets' bats finally fell silent, until the fifth, when Amed Rosario broke up Anderson's no-hit bid with a single that barely left the infield. The Mets did end up with two on and two out that inning, but Jose Lobaton struck out to end it.
Harvey lasted five innings, giving up four runs and eight hits, with six strikeouts and a walk. His fastball settled into the low 90s for most of the night and that, along with a few ineffective secondary pitches, made for a long night for the uneven Harvey.
The Mets finally scored in the sixth, when Michael Conforto reached on a hit by pitch, moved to second on a groundout, and came home on Yoenis Cespedes' bloop single.
