Mets’ free fall continues as Carlos Mendoza gets ejected in loss to Pirates

PITTSBURGH — Carlos Mendoza rearranged the deck chairs Saturday, but the Titanic still sank.

Mark Vientos got placed into the lineup’s No. 2 hole — which has mostly been Brandon Nimmo or Starling Marte’s domain lately — with the idea it might jump-start the third baseman, who just returned from the injured list a day earlier, against a left-handed starting pitcher.

Then it rained in the top of the second inning, and after a 1 ½-hour delay the Pirates changed pitchers. Mendoza stood pat with Paul Blackburn. In the end, the Mets were left soggy: Blackburn got jumped right out of the delay, and the lineup continued its pattern of disappointment in a 9-2 loss to the lowly Pirates at PNC Park.

Mendoza wasn’t around to watch much of it from the dugout; he was ejected in the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

Wasted was a mostly strong performance from the Mets bullpen, which pitched six scoreless innings before Huascar Brazobán surrendered four runs in the eighth.

Now the Mets will have to figure out how to navigate Sunday’s series finale — reinforcements will be needed from Triple-A Syracuse — with a depleted bullpen.

The Mets dropped their second straight to these NL Central basement dwellers and have lost 12 of 15 overall.

Blackburn, in a third straight subpar start, allowed three earned runs over one inning on six hits with two strikeouts.

The right-hander, who has been thrust into the rotation because of injuries, saw his ERA jump to 7.71.

Juan Soto’s RBI single in the first gave the Mets a 1-0 lead, but the Mets missed on chances to extend it.

Nimmo was retired for the second out with runners on the corners, and after Pete Alonso stole second, Starling Marte struck out.

The Pirates jumped on Blackburn immediately following the rain delay of 1 hour, 29 minutes.

Oneil Cruz, Joey Bart, Spencer Horwitz, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled successively for three runs to begin the inning, placing the Mets in a 2-1 hole.

José Buttó was summoned from the bullpen and Adam Frazier’s sacrifice fly added a run.

Buttó struck out Bryan Reynolds with the bases loaded — following a catcher’s interference by Luis Torrens with Andrew McCutchen at the plate — to keep the game in check.

Brett Baty’s leadoff double in the fourth was wiped off on an unusual play: Torrens’ grounder to third rolled under Hayes’ glove and was grabbed by Kiner-Falefa behind him. Baty, breaking to third, was tagged out by Kiner-Falefa.

Mendoza was ejected in the bottom of the fourth after complaining to plate umpire Roberto Ortiz about his strike zone.

The ejection was Mendoza’s third this season and the first of his career.

Nimmo’s RBI single in the fifth pulled the Mets to within 3-2. Alonso delivered a one-out double before Nimmo delivered. But any chance of a further rally was quashed with strikeouts by Marte and Tyrone Taylor.

Marte walked leading off the eighth but was erased when Taylor hit into a double play. The Mets were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.

Vientos went 1-for-5, with an infield hit in the ninth. While the Mets received sporadic production from the bottom of the order (an improvement), a scoring outburst never arrived.

Buttó, Brandon Waddell and Reed Garrett provided the six scoreless innings of relief for the Mets before Brazobán’s ugly eighth.

From that group the lefty Waddell was perhaps the most impressive with one hit allowed and three strikeouts over three scoreless innings.

Hayes delivered an RBI single in the eighth. McCutchen gave the Pirates a 7-2 lead with a two-run single with lefty Colin Poche on the mound. Poche allowed a two-run double to Reynolds to continue the demolition.