One poor performance, even this late in the season in a close wildcard race, could be explained away as one of those nights. But not two.

After an ugly 8-4 loss in Milwaukee to the Brewers on Friday night, it’s suddenly hard not to think the Mets are playing tight and feeling the pressure of having so much on the line as the games dwindle to a few precious games.

In some ways, the two rainouts this week seemed to be a breakthrough for the Mets, giving them a chance to perhaps clinch a wild-card spot somewhere other than Atlanta, the city of so many terrifying failures, and the place where they looked flat . Tuesday evening.

Still, the Brewers might just be their worst nightmare.

After all, they are now 0-4 against them, going all the way back to the season opener at Citi Field. And while the Mets are certainly in a much better place as a team all these months later, not much had changed matchup-wise.

That is to say, the Brewers are an annoying bunch of grinders with little star power who put the ball in play, steal bases, play good defense and rely heavily on what has been one of the best bullpens in the majors this season.

They did that and more on Friday night, most notably stealing six bases without getting caught, bringing their season total to 14-for-14 against the Mets.

As such Francisco Lindor told reporters after the match that “we were outplayed on Friday night”, in all phases of the game.

No, they didn’t hit, especially not in the clutch. They didn’t throw, not even their ace on the mound. And defensively they made mistakes.

They lost too Francisco Alvarez suffered a back injury when he left the game in the seventh inning after sliding to third base, and likely won’t know until Saturday if he will be available.

Actually, Carlos Mendoza might be tempted to play Luis Torrens even if Alvarez is doing well. Torrens is much better at throwing out runners and should be better at blocking throws than Alvarez, who was charged with a passed ball on Friday night and also couldn’t block two wild pitches.

But as bad as things looked Friday night, even stopping the running game is a secondary concern. Their turnaround this season was fueled by excellent starting pitching and a lineup that was sometimes streaky but usually deep and dangerous.

None of that has been evident from this week’s two defeats.

It was one thing before Luis Severino to get off to a mediocre start in Atlanta on Tuesday night. It was something completely different before Sean Manaeawho pitched legitimately like an ace for two months, only to suddenly break free in the first inning on Friday and surrender a grand slam to Rhys Hoskins that changed the complexion of the game.

To be fair, Manaea seemed to be pressured in that first inning by home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus (who ultimately ejected Mendoza), and was visibly frustrated as a result. He had reason to think he reached the top of the zone with a two-strikeout fastball to Hoskins, but he didn’t get the call.

But it’s still on him that he ended up hitting a 3-2 fastball that took Hoskins deep.

Even more so because, as SNY’s Jerry Blevins noted on the Mets postgame show, questioning Manaea’s pitching order, the lefty threw five straight fastballs to a hitter who has made a living crushing fastballs from lefties.

But other than that, Manaea just wasn’t the same guy who was so dominant. He didn’t have his good fastball, the one that has been overmatching hitters since he adopted Chris Sales‘s sidearm delivery in July.

“The fastball had no life at the top (of the strike zone),” Mendoza said afterward.

And Manaea told reporters that for some reason the fastball went down more than the usual high drive. When asked why, Manaea shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

It was that kind of evening. The left-hander survived into the fourth, but never really came up with anything and managed only one strikeout.

And so the burden fell on the Mets’ offense to make a comeback, and it seemed very doable Frankie Montasa right-handed journeyman with a history of control problems and making too many foul throws.

Still, the only damage the Mets could do against him in four innings was a two-run home run Mark Vientos. The Brewers’ bullpen did the rest, starting with three scoreless innings from another journeyman, Joe Ross.

Especially the Mets hitters Pete Alonsolooked nervous and chased pitches all night, resulting in a total of eleven strikeouts, seven combined from Vientos, Alonso and Brandon Nimmo.

Lindor looked good at the plate upon his return to the field, with two hits and a walk in five at-bats, which should be cause for optimism. He looked stiff at shortstop and bounced a few pitches on routine ground balls, admitting that hunching over aggravated his back, so perhaps Mendoza should consider putting him at DH and playing Luisangel Acuna in short.

We’ll see. Jose Quintana will get the ball on Saturday and maybe he can be a stopper.

But more than that, the Mets need a spark. In fact, they need to prove they can handle the pressure and not suffocate like they did at the end of the 2022 season.

I didn’t want to say it looked all too familiar after one flat loss in Atlanta. But that is certainly the case now.