HOUSTON -- Before anything else happened in their series finale Wednesday at Minute Maid Park -- and there was plenty still to come, plenty yet to occur -- the Mets endured a deflating top of the first inning that saw them load the bases twice and emerge with zero runs. On a key double play, Pete Alonso was called out for running well inside the baseline. Manager Buck Showalter had no argument.

With that, the tenor of the afternoon was set. It did not change much over the course of three hours and 32 long minutes. Those seeking evidence that the Mets can restore their playoff chances were shouted down throughout a 10-8 loss to the Astros, as the team continued its spiral -- now 13 losses in 17 games -- with a rash of physical and mental mistakes.

“Obviously,” Alonso said, “not where we want to be.”

It wasn’t just the top of the first inning that undid the Mets. It was also the bottom of the first, when Omar Narváez drew a catcher’s interference call and Tylor Megill threw two wild pitches. It was the team relying on its lowest-leverage relievers in the middle innings of a winnable game. It was eight walks as a pitching staff. It was Brandon Nimmo being thrown out as he tried to stretch a single into a double with two outs in the seventh. It was Showalter not asking umpires to consult replay on that call, which caused him to end the afternoon with a challenge in his pocket. It was Josh Walker committing an error -- and sustaining an injury that ended his day -- on a throw that stood little chance of resulting in an out. It was Adam Ottavino flipping the ball wildly after fielding a squeeze bunt later in the seventh, which allowed a crucial insurance run to score.

Individually, none of those mistakes were egregious. Collectively, they represented the story of the Mets, who have not been able to snap back from their losing ways. In their last eight series, the Mets are 1-6-1. They have won consecutive games just once in June. Their loss on Wednesday moved them a season-worst six games below .500 and a season-high 13 1/2 games back of the Braves, pending the outcome of Atlanta's game in Philadelphia. They are as close to owning the worst record in the National League as they are to a Wild Card berth.

“Baseball is hard,” said designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach, whose three-hit, three-RBI effort was one of the bright spots for the team. “It’ll try all it can to make you want to quit and make you want to give in. That’s why not everybody can do it.”

Still, Showalter made sure to note that he has “a long memory of how good” the Mets are. Whether the manager intended it or not, his comment evoked thoughts of last year’s club, which won 101 games featuring largely the same group of personnel.

But this is not last year. This is not the headline-grabbing offseason, when the Mets spent hundreds of millions of dollars on contracts and anything seemed possible. This is not April, when it was still easy to explain away the team’s struggles with the two-word catchphrase of, “It’s early.” Wednesday was the first day of summer. It’s no longer early. Making the playoffs may well remain a reasonable goal, but it’s one that will now require an exceptional effort.

In pitching coach Jeremy Hefner’s estimation, the entire staff must deliver first-pitch strikes more often and stay ahead in counts. If they do, Hefner believes his pitchers will be better equipped to combat opposing comebacks. (Consider: the Mets have scored seven or more runs in seven of their last 22 contests. They’ve won just one of those seven.)

More generally, for the Mets to run up the standings, they’ll need to play much crisper baseball than they have over the past two months.

“We’re going to get out of it, and we’re going to go on a winning streak,” Vogelbach said. “I don’t know when that is. I wish I could tell you when, but I truly believe it’s going to happen. And we’re going to get right back to where everybody in here believes that we should be.”

At some point, Vogelbach continued, a Mets turnaround is inevitable. At some point, their pitching and hitting production will both click into place. At some point, the team will begin its rise up the standings.

Or as Showalter put it: “At some point, hopefully someone’s going to pay for their frustration.”