SAN FRANCISCO -- As the baseball floated in the air above shallow left field, Dominic Smith ranged in to make a play on it. Although he was set up deep to guard against a double, Smith had little trouble beating the ball to its landing spot. It seemed destined for his glove; the Mets and Giants, for an 11th inning at Oracle Park.

But as the ball lost altitude, Smith flashed back to last August, to a similar play against a similar Giants team at Citi Field. In that one, Smith and shortstop Amed Rosario collided, allowing the go-ahead run to score in the 13th inning of a loss. In this one, Smith pulled up short, fearing a similar collision. The ball glanced off his glove and onto the turf, giving Alex Dickerson enough time to race home Friday in the 10th inning of the Mets’ 1-0, walk-off loss against the Giants.

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“I had a good read on it, a good bead, and at the last second I just got scared because last year we collided,” Smith said. “I took my eye off the ball because of what happened, and ended up dropping it.”

That the Mets were even in that position was both a credit to Jacob deGrom, who struck out 10 over seven shutout innings, and a discredit to New York’s offense, which mustered no runs in eight innings against Tyler Beede. With four relievers unavailable due to Thursday’s 16-inning marathon loss, the Mets turned from deGrom to Luis Avilan and finally to Jacob Rhame, who struck out a pair after walking the leadoff man in the 10th.

The next batter was Pablo Sandoval, who lofted a pop fly to shallow left. Statcast measured Smith’s catch probability at 99 percent, which seemed apt as he settled under the ball in plenty of time to make the grab. As Smith called for the ball, Rosario peeled away from him, but not in enough time for Smith to feel comfortable avoiding a collision.

“Once Dom called me off, I just backed off,” Rosario said through an interpreter.

“I called it because I felt like I had a great jump on it and was coming in easy,” Smith said. “Just a little miscommunication and the ball dropped, and it cost us the game.”

It was almost identical to the Mets’ 13-inning loss to the Giants last Aug. 20, when Smith was a newly minted left fielder in his first game back from the Minors. The Mets used Smith in left five times last August and September, believing some defensive versatility would help the career first baseman. They went as far as to send him to Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic to practice the position, but a lack of available reps there curtailed that experiment.

Then, this spring, the Mets abruptly decided that they no longer wanted to use Smith in left. Stuck behind Pete Alonso on the depth chart, Smith went as far as to ask the Mets for time at the position, but team officials denied his request. Not until months later, when the Mets lost multiple outfielders to injury, did club officials finally relent.

“We didn’t know what we were going to see out of Alonso at that point, so we wanted [Smith] to continue to battle for that first base job,” Callaway said earlier this year in explanation.

Asked Friday if he regretted not giving Smith time in left this spring, Callaway replied: “No, no. He’s been fine. Obviously today didn’t go well for him, but he’s been fine.”

Defensive metrics agree, pegging Smith as a roughly average left fielder in limited innings. It’s just that his most significant mistake came at a time the Mets could ill afford it. On a night when deGrom was pristine against a National League Wild Card contender, the Mets badly needed to escape Oracle Park with a win.

Instead, they left regretting their latest defensive misstep.

“It’s definitely a little bit frustrating because we had two games we could have won,” Smith said. “Jake pitched a great game tonight. When he has outings like that, we have to give him some support. We weren’t able to do that, and it cost us the game.”