Poor start by Max Scherzer, Brandon Nimmo’s sloppy defense and Drew Smith’s ejection sum up Mets’ loss to Yankees

No lead is ever safe for the Mets.

Not with the state of the pitching staff and not with the way the bats seem to run out of battery at any given moment. Tuesday night at Citi Field was no different. The Mets watched the Yankees come back from a 5-1 lead to overtake them 6-5 in the fourth inning with one of their vaunted aces on the hill.

The Mets ultimately lost the first game of the Subway Series, 7-6. It was their ninth loss in 10 tries. Each one stings a little differently, though the fans might say a Subway Series defeat at home in front of a sellout crowd stings more than others.

Neither starter made it to the sixth inning. Max Scherzer (six earned on seven hits, two strikeouts) was taken out in the fourth after a Jake Bauers blooper scored two to put the Yankees (39-29) on top. He never got a feel for his slider. He wanted to bounce it, but he left it over the middle each time.

“I was not getting the pitch in the locations that I wanted to no matter what my thought process was with it,” Scherzer said. “Whether I was trying to step on it, or just trying to throw it naturally, or even just kind of back off and trust that I could get it to the spots I wanted to, it was hanging in all situations.”

Full arsenal or not, Scherzer blamed himself.

“You can put the camera right on me,” Scherzer said. “I’ve got to be better.”

Luis Guillorme tied the game at 6-6 with an RBI single off Luis Severino with two outs in the fifth to end the right-hander’s day. But the Mets failed to make a comeback with mental mistakes and unlucky bounces.

Right-hander Drew Smith was ejected for sticky substance in the seventh. His replacement, right-hander John Curtiss, was assessed a pitch clock violation before even throwing a pitch because of a malfunctioning PitchCom device.

Smith now faces a 10-game suspension, which would leave the bullpen a man short. He would become the second pitcher from the Mets (31-36) this season to receive a suspension for violating the sticky substance rules, with Scherzer being ejected in April.

“They said both of my hands were too sticky,” Smith said. “I was really surprised because I haven’t done anything different all year. Sweat and rosin, I don’t know what else to say. Nothing changes.”

However, the unluckiest bounce for the home team came in the top of the sixth with one on and one out. Anthony Volpe sent a fly ball into the right-center gap. Brandon Nimmo tracked it down but the ball bounced off his glove.

“I was thinking I was going to have to dive for it the whole time, but in the end, I thought I could stay up on my feet and make a throw to third base to keep the guy at second,” Nimmo said. “Then I just missed it. I don’t really know exactly why.”

The Mets then went to the bullpen to replace left-hander Josh Walker (0-1). It was a tough break for Walker with Volpe’s ball being scored a double. Right-hander Jeff Brigham came in with runners on second and third and pinch-hitter Josh Donaldson scored former Mets outfielder Billy McKinney with a sacrifice fly.

“Just something about that decision,” Nimmo said. “Not making the play first made me miss that ball and cost us the game.”

The Mets went down 1-0 when Giancarlo Stanton homered off Scherzer. It was Stanton’s 38th against the Mets and his 24th at Citi Field. He’s homered against the Mets more than any other team in baseball and his 24 round-trippers are the most by an opposing player at Citi Field.

Nimmo retaliated with one of his own in the bottom of the first off Severino (six runs, five earned on seven hits, three walks and four strikeouts), and Brett Baty’s RBI single put the Mets up 2-1. The Amazins’ strung two more together in the second and scored another in the third. Severino struggled. He balked twice in the second inning and Gleyber Torres did him no favors with an error in the third. But the damage could’ve been much worse had Mark Canha not grounded into a force with the bases loaded. Only run one scored.

“For me, I didn’t get better,” Severino said. “I need to be a better pitcher. I feel like every time they give me the ball, I’m not helping the team right now. So I just need to figure out what’s going on, and hopefully, I can do that soon.”

The Mets loaded the bases again in the eighth with only one out, this time on Wandy Peralta. But the Yankees went to the bullpen and the move paid off. Clay Holmes struck out Francisco Lindor and Starling Marte.

Ron Marinaccio earned the win in relief (3-3) and Michael King converted his fourth save.

“We got a lot of good things that happened offensively,” Buck Showalter said. “But they’ve got a lot of good weapons down there in the pen.”