Laura Albanese: Mets' veterans spoil another promising youthful performance as Red Sox complete sweep

This should have been about Zach Thornton. It should have been about a rookie lefthander tossing what might have been the best start of this Mets season — about how he earned a spot in the rotation when they emerge from the All-Star break later this week.

What it’s actually about is how the Mets’ elders once again failed their youth.

It’s about Francisco Lindor muffing what should have been a game-ending double play in the ninth inning of their 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Red Sox Sunday afternoon. It’s about Devin Williams’ inability to recoup from Lindor’s error — walking in one run and allowing a bloop single to plate another. And it’s even about the growlingly puzzling decision to keep Williams in the closer’s role when Luke Weaver has now gone 27 straight innings without allowing an earned run — tied with Mark Guthrie for most in franchise history.

“It’s tough — everybody in that clubhouse will tell you that right now,” interim manager Andy Green said. Next, he was asked about Lindor’s error, but pivoted mid-comment.

“If we can step back for just a split second, Zach Thornton was really good,” he said. “His third major league start against a lineup that has hit left-handing pitching all season long…It was fun to see. It’s encouraging for us as we look to round out the rotation.”

You can understand why Green wanted to change the subject. The Mets (40-57) are 17-games under .500, the year is lost, and when Williams said postgame that he wanted to do “anything but this” during the All-Star break, you genuinely couldn’t fault him.

But it also speaks to how this team’s young bright spots have been overshadowed by the blight of the season.

Thornton Sunday was a delightful sort of throwback — a soft(er) tossing lefty who fearlessly fills up the zone, with a pitchability that belies his youth. He allowed just two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over seven innings — only the eighth time a Mets pitcher has gone seven this year. And when Eric Wagaman dropped the third out of the seventh inning in foul territory, it was the 24-year-old Thornton who reassured the first baseman four years his senior, telling Wagaman he’d just get the next one (he did).

Thornton, who allowed four runs in the first 1 1/3 innings of his major league debut back in May, has given up just one in the next 16 innings.

But then the rest of the Mets happened. Weaver continued to be the exception to the rule, pitching a scoreless eighth, and the Mets led 2-0 when Williams came in to shut the door but instead left it ajar. With one on and one out, Romy Gonzalez hit an easy double-play ball to Lindor, who had it bounce off his wrist to put the tying runs on. Williams then did himself no favors, walking the next two — one for a run — before allowing the tying single.

Even then, their youth tried to save them. When Jarren Duran blooped that tying single to right, it was Carson Benge who covered over 100 feet of ground and came inches away from making the sliding, backhanded catch. Anthony Seigler had a sacrifice fly in the 10th that proved to be the winning run.

And so, despite Green’s brief attempt to switch the narrative, the Mets were again unable to celebrate the promise shown by their young players. They instead get three days to contemplate another loss, the hopelessness to come, and the impending fire sale that will mark the vast extent of their failure.

“I mean, it wasn’t good,” Lindor said of the first half. “It’s not to the standard that we have here, definitely not what we expected. It comes down to execution. Our pitching staff executed today…It’s kind of been like that — learn from it, move on and get better…

“I’ve got to get better.”

There’s no doubt that Lindor wants very badly to be better. Despite driving in both of the Mets’ runs on a two-run home run, he was understandably downcast postgame: This isn’t what he expects of himself, and certainly not what he envisioned as he enters the waning years of his prime. As a leader, it also has to sting to know that the kids are holding up their end of the bargain when so much of the team hasn't — another insult in a season that’s been full of them.

“It’s frustrating,” Green said. “It’s frustrating for everyone in that clubhouse, not just from the manager’s seat. Those guys want to win. This was a tough first half in many respects. We have to take a level of ownership over ourselves and every single person on that team has a level of responsibility to flip the script going into the second half.”

If not for themselves, then for the future. No matter how promising the youth, failures like these are corrosive. Sunday was their seventh loss in 11 games, and a series sweep. As an extra affront, the Red Sox symbolize everything the Mets have been unable to do — claw their way out of the basement and into Wild Card contention.

The Mets, conversely, haven't shown that fight, and by the time they came up to bat in the bottom of the 10th, it felt hopeless — even with the tying run just 120 feet away. Jorge Polanco struck out, Brett Baty flied out to left and pinch hitter Bo Bichette grounded out to first; Tyrone Taylor never even advanced to third.

And fittingly, it was A.J. Ewing, 21 and the youngest player on the team, in the on-deck circle, waiting for the chance that never came.