PHOENIX — Forgive the Mets if they will miss playing the Diamondbacks the rest of the year.
They beat Arizona again Sunday, 6-2, to complete the teams’ season series. The Mets took four of the six games the past two weekends, a major boost to their five consecutive series wins — matching the 2018 club for the most to begin a season in franchise history.
Like the previous installments, the finale suggested that the D-backs (6-10) perhaps will not be postseason contenders. They had a lineup that featured two players hitting above .220, committed three errors and allowed two runs in a pseudo-rally that included just one hit.
Tylor Megill did his part, too, giving up two runs in 6 2/3 innings, one out shy of tying the longest outing of his career. He struck out seven and walked one.
In a sign of progress from his previous outing, when the Giants roughed him up early and he settled in late, Megill came out firing, striking out four batters in two perfect innings that required only 16 pitches.
The Mets (12-5) managed a lone unearned run and four hits in five innings against Arizona lefthander Madison Bumgarner. He struck out four and walked none, exiting after 78 pitches.
They scratched the run across in the first inning, when Mark Canha singled on a weak grounder to third base and advanced to second on Sergio Alcantara’s throwing error. Canha scored easily on Francisco Lindor’s hit-and-run single to center.
Starling Marte created a run all on his own in the sixth inning, when his hard ground ball ended up in the left-centerfield gap. He turned it into a double when centerfielder Daulton Varsho failed to field it cleanly. Moments later, he stole third base and scored when catcher Jose Herrera’s throw sailed down the leftfield line.
When the D-backs’ bullpen provided relief in name only, the Mets added a pair of runs in the seventh. J.D. Davis walked, Luis Guillorme singled and James McCann was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.
Travis Jankowski broke out the RBI BB play — a bases-loaded walk — to force in a run. Starling Marte had an RBI HBP for another.
