NEW YORK _ Once again, Terry Collins was lamenting Wednesday night how the Mets just haven't gotten that one big hit that can get a team going.
Then Kelly Johnson hit a tying, pinch hit, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Diamondbacks to wake up Citi Field.
But the Mets let the good vibes end there.
Arizona catcher Oscar Hernandez, in his first big-league game this season after getting called up from Double-A Mobile on Tuesday, hit a towering home run to left off Jerry Blevins leading off the 12th and the Mets went on to a crushing 3-2 defeat.
The Mets (57-56) have lost four of their last five games. They have the same record as the Yankees.
The Mets had three baserunners going into the ninth on three singles against lefthander Robbie Ray, who came in with a 4.93 ERA. Ray went seven innings.
They were trailing 2-0 when pinch hitter Alejandro De Aza led off the ninth with a walk against rookie closer Jake Barrett. After Curtis Granderson struck out, Collins sent up Johnson to bat for Ty Kelly.
The night before, Kelly was the ninth-inning pinch hitter for Travis d'Arnaud in the Mets' 5-3 loss to Arizona. Kelly grounded out.
Collins' hunch paid off this time. Johnson launched a 2-and-0 pitch into the upper deck in right to tie it at 2.
But all that led to was more baseball. In extra innings, the Mets had one baserunner.
The Mets' troubles with runners in scoring position? Now they can't get hardly anyone into scoring position no matter how many innings they play.
The Mets only had three such at-bats last night and went 0-for-3. Wilmer Flores flew out to center with runners on first and third in the fourth and to left in the ninth with Neil Walker on second. De Aza hit a fly ball to center to end the 10th with a runner on second.
Bartolo Colon allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings. The 43-year-old wonder walked one and struck out eight, tying a season high.
The Mets called up Bronx-born T.J. Rivera from Triple-A Las Vegas late Tuesday night and Collins penciled him right into the lineup in the sixth spot at third base. The 27-year-old was batting .349, which was tops in all of Triple-A, and was 15-for-29 (.517) in the last week.
Rivera's first big-league at-bat produced a liner that glanced off Ray and went to third baseman Jake Lamb, who got the out at first.
Rivera (1-for-5) picked up his first big-league hit with a single to center in the 10th and made the final out of the game.
Rivera wasn't the only rookie in the Mets' lineup. Kelly started in left and hit second and Matt Reynolds was the starting shortstop and eighth batter.
The game was delayed 20 minutes at the start by rain.
Paul Goldschmidt drove in both of Arizona's runs in regulation play, the first with a third-inning single off Colon and the other on a foul sacrifice fly to right off Addison Reed in the eighth.
The Diamondbacks took 1-0 lead in the third when Jean Segura singled with one out. Segura stole second, moved to third when d'Arnaud fired the ball into centerfield for an error and scored on Goldschmidt's two-out single to left
Ray retired the first 10 Mets before Kelly singled with one out in the third. Jay Bruce singled one out later, but Flores hit a fly ball to center to end the threat.
Colon continued to work out of trouble. Arizona had at least one baserunner in each of his innings _ except his final one.
