Colon gives up four runs in first and Mets can’t recover in loss to Rangers

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The lineup may have been different Saturday night with the return of David Wright, but the results were the same. The Mets got their third baseman back after he missed seven games with a shoulder injury, but they could not manage to produce enough runs as they fell to the Rangers, 5-3, at Citi Field.

The Mets (38-49) lost for the eighth time in their last 10 games. The Rangers (38-49) snapped a 10-game road losing streak.

Bartolo Colon put the Mets in a 4-0 hole in the first inning, giving up an RBI double to Alex Rios and a three-run home run to Robinson Chirinos. It was the fourth straight start in which Colon had given up at least a run in the first inning.

“The first inning, he just kept the pitches a little over the plate and a little up and they put good swings on it and did some damage,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “They scored some runs. He just executed his pitches after that and kept the ball down.”

Colon (8-7) settled down and allowed just a Adrian Beltre third-inning home run over the next six innings. It was the first time he has given up more than one home run in a game since April.

But the first-inning damage was too much for the Mets’ struggling offense to overcome even with Wright back in the lineup.

The third baseman, who was on a 10-game hitting streak when he was shut down, extended the streak to 11 with a fifth-inning double. He was caught in a rundown on Bobby Abreu’s fielder’s choice and Abreu — like most Mets baserunners Saturday — was left stranded.

The Mets loaded the bases with no outs in the third, but came away with just two runs. Ruben Tejada led off with a single to left center and Colon reached when Beltre at third threw away his ground ball trying for a force at second. Tejada scored on Curtis Granderson’s double to left, but with Colon’s lack of speed he could not tag up and score on Daniel Murphy’s line drive that popped out of the glove of left fielder Shin-Soo Choo.

With the bases loaded, Wright struck out before Abreu drove in Colon with a line single to right. The Mets left the bases loaded when Lucas Duda struck out and Juan Lagares grounded into a forceout at second.

The Mets have struggled with runners in scoring position all season and particularly with the bases loaded. With Abreu’s single, the Mets are now 13-of-76 (.171) with the bags full in 2014. They are hitting just .228 with runners in scoring position, going 3-for-13 Saturday night.

D’Arnaud continued his hot streak, hitting a first-pitch home run to lead off the fourth inning that cut the deficit to 5-3. “We just came up short,” the catcher said of the offensive struggles Saturday.

But with the return of Wright, the Mets were hoping that they would be able to overcome those issues. He had missed seven games after aggravating the shoulder injury on June 26 in Pittsburgh. The Mets’ captain said he had initially injured his shoulder earlier in the month when sliding headfirst into second base, but had been able to play through it.

After testing his ability to go side to side and extend his arm on the field before the game, Wright said he hoped he would be able to help the Mets get the offense going. With eight games — all at Citi Field — now left before the All-Star

break, Wright wants to see this team make a strong push.

“I’d like to think I make a positive impact on the team; it’s been somewhat of a roller-coaster ride this year as far as us in general and offensively, me in particular, personally,” Wright said. “We are having some ups and downs, but I’ll hopefully come in and help produce and help us finish strong before the All-Star break.

“It looks like we are getting Dillon (Gee) back at some point soon,” Wright said. “It’s nice seeing the way some of our starting pitchers are throwing; we just have to do a better job of consistently scoring more runs.”