The positive vibes from a great road trip. Another dominant outing from Matt Harvey. A three-run lead with two outs in the eighth inning.
The Mets bullpen took all that and flushed it down the toilet last night, turning what should have been a great start to their homestand into a crushing 6-4 loss to the Nationals.
The Mets, coming off a four-city, 7-4 road trip, had Harvey spot them to a 4-1 lead after seven innings. But after manager Terry Collins pulled him, the bullpen coughed up three runs with two out in the eighth on Ryan Zimmerman's bases-clearing double and Bobby Parnell surrendered Ian Desmond's go-ahead RBI double in the ninth.
Bill Kostroun
AIR TIME: Eric Young Jr. lays out sliding into home, scoring on Marlon Byrd's fifth-inning double as the Mets built a lead over the Nationals they would squander.
Jayson Werth, who struck out against Harvey three times, doubled to lead off the ninth against Parnell (5-4). Desmond tied it with a double down the right-field line, and scored an insurance run on Kurt Suzuki's sacrifice fly. It made a loser of Parnell, a winner of Tyler Clippard (6-1) and the Mets wondering what went wrong.
It was not the first time they wasted a Harvey gem, just the latest and one of the most galling. The young ace allowed just three baserunners and struck out 11.
"He's special," Marlon Byrd said. "It's one of those where we expect a 'W' every time he goes out there. You make the right moves and that eighth inning, you get bailed out."
Afterward, Collins had to face questions about whether he considered leaving his ace in to pitch the eighth and his managing of that pivotal frame.
"It's easy to sit here now that we've lost the game, look back in the seventh or eighth and say you should've left him in or should've made this move or should've made that move — it's a very easy thing to say," Collins said. "I could've left him in, no doubt. I could've let him throw 150. I decided to take him out. I thought he'd had enough.''
Harvey — who lowered his ERA to an NL-best 2.00 — bolstered his case to start the All-Star Game at Citi Field July 16. Josh Satin (3-for-3, two RBIs) helped stake him to a 4-1 lead, and Collins decided to go with David Aardsma to start the eighth, pulling Harvey after 109 pitches.
"I was happy about going seven, but in my mind going eight or nine is ideal,'' Harvey said. "He said it was done. It was one of those days the pitch count was high. You don't want to go out there and have a 10-pitch at-bat and creep up to 130 pitches. I felt good, but that was his decision.''
It's one of several that cost the Mets. Aardsma surrendered a leadoff single to Roger Bernadina, but came back to strike out Kurt Suzuki and pop up Chad Tracy. Collins then chose to match up against Denard Span, pulling Aardsma for lefty Josh Edgin, who promptly gave up a double.
Then Collins pulled Edgin for Brandon Lyon, who walked Anthony Rendon to load the bases. Zimmerman unloaded them with his three-RBI double to left-center that tied the game at 4-4.
"[Lyon] just missed with that one,'' Collins said. "But then you've got to really work hard with [Zimmerman]. You can't leave something on the plate like that.''
Parnell took a loss against the Nationals for the second time this month.
"I don't know if I could've done anything different — it is what it is,'' Parnell said. "They're throwing the barrel a little bit better than other teams. I have to make some adjustments, maybe move some feet or something. That's two games in a row they've done that to me. It's time for me to make an adjustment."
brian.lewis@nypost.com
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