Angels’ ninth-inning rally falls short, as did their defense, in 7-5 loss to the Mets

A man resigned to his fate, Mets catcher Rene Rivera skittered to a stop at the cutout just past third base and stood up tall, knees locked.

Luis Valbuena started the rundown half-heartedly by jogging toward Rivera. After a few strides, he shoveled the baseball to teammate Jefry Marte. Too early. Like a prisoner who found his shackles unlocked, Rivera sensed new life. He sprung back toward third.

There wasn’t enough time. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons sprinted in, but the play was rushed. He couldn’t catch the ball and apply the tag, and Rivera was safe at third.

It seemed an inconsequential play in the Angels’ 7-5 loss to the Mets on Saturday evening at Citi Field. The Mets were up three runs in the eighth inning.

But the extra out facilitated two extra runs. A late rally, when the Angels finally forced the Mets to offer Mike Trout hittable pitches, fell two runs short.

“That ended up costing us,” Simmons said.

Sloppiness defensively marked the effort. Second baseman Cliff Pennington couldn’t field a ball cleanly in the fifth inning, leading to another unearned run. He also botched a throw on a double-play in the first inning.

“That’s just a poor ballgame on the defensive end,” manager Mike Scioscia said.

Defensive miscues were “the major reason we lost the game tonight,” he added.

After snoozing through eight innings, the Angels ignited in the top of the ninth. Five consecutive batters reached base to start a rally. When Trout stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and no outs, he represented the go-ahead run.

The Mets had dreaded just this situation. With Albert Pujols out of the lineup because of hamstring tightness, Trout had hardly seen hittable pitches.

Up three runs, with the bases loaded, with no outs, Mets manager Terry Collins considered a most unusual strategy.

“I’d almost try to walk this guy than pitch to him,” Collins thought.

Did he come close?

“Oh, absolutely,” Collins said.

Instead, Addison Reed pitched to him. He induced a sacrifice fly.

Had the Angels’ defense been tighter, the pressure on Reed would’ve been amplified considerably. The mangled rundown and the missed plays in the field loomed large after the game. It is the second consecutive game this series that the Angels’ defense has sputtered.

Simmons said Pennington’s errors were forgivable.

“You can’t hang him for making a mistake,” Simmons said. “It happens.”

But the rundown, Simmons said, could’ve been resolved much more easily.

“You run him down,” he said.

How?

“By running him down,” he said.

So instead of throwing ...

“Running him down,” he said.

The promise and peril with Angels starter Alex Meyer was again on display Saturday. His pitches could be fearsome. His fastball topped out at 100 mph. He struck out seven batters.

But he labored. He needed 86 pitches to retire 12 batters. He surrendered four runs (three earned) over those four innings.

“Again, his stuff was terrific,” Scioscia said. “He just had trouble getting into that zone again.”

Meyer dominated seven of the Mets’ nine batters, but he looked squeamish with the top of the order. All three of his hits came against the top two batters, Michael Conforto and Jose Reyes. Three of his four walks came to them, too.

Meyer has bopped between the minor leagues and the majors. He hasn’t appeared in more than seven big league games in a single season. Saturday was his fifth.

“I felt like tonight I was close,” Meyer said.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Follow Zach Helfand on Twitter @zhelfand