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Harper: Mets get big whiff of last October to ruin opener

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KANSAS CITY — For most of Opening Night of a brand new season, Terry Collins had to feel as if he was watching some torturous replay of last year’s World Series. Once again the Mets’ defense proved costly, their offense was quiet and the Royals wouldn’t strike out against one of their strikeout pitchers.

Then suddenly, the vaunted Kansas City bullpen looked vulnerable, and the Mets rather stunningly had a chance to steal a game the way the Royals did to them last October.

Asdrubal Cabrera, David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes each had chances, in the eighth and ninth innings with runners in scoring position, to save the day, and all three struck out.

Wright was the killer. All he needed was a fly ball to tie the game, coming to bat with runners at first and third and one out in the ninth inning with the Mets trailing 4-3.

Of course, it’s easier said than done against Wade Davis, one of the top two or three relievers in baseball, but as Wright lamented after the 4-3 loss, he had his opportunity.

“I want that one pitch back,” he said at his locker.

Davis left a 93-mph cutter up and over the plate, a mistake pitch for him, and exactly what Wright was looking for to at least drive to the outfield for a sac fly.

Yoenis Cespedes fails to deliver any late-game heroics, striking out with the tying run on third.Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Yoenis Cespedes fails to deliver any late-game heroics, striking out with the tying run on third.

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“I put a good swing on it but I fouled it back,” Wright said. “That’s the one you need to put in play. You don’t want to get behind 0-2 against him. He has a lot of weapons.”

Indeed, Davis made quick work of Wright, freezing him with a cutter he started at his front hip and broke over the inside corner for a called strike three, leaving the Mets’ captain to no doubt replay that 0-1 cutter in his head repeatedly as he tried to asleep Sunday night.

Cespedes could have bailed him out, of course, as well as redeemed himself for a careless error in the first inning that put the Mets in an early hole.

But after battling Davis for seven pitches, he chased an outside fastball, well off the plate, as is his habit, and that was that.

So much for late-inning heroics. A loss recalling the 2015 World Series was not exactly what the Mets had in mind to open the season and show the Royals, as well as a national TV audience, that they’re ready to take the final step and win a championship in 2016.

Wade Davis gets out of a ninth-inning jam by striking out David Wright and Cespedes.Peter Aiken/USA Today Sports

Wade Davis gets out of a ninth-inning jam by striking out David Wright and Cespedes.

Instead it felt as though nothing had changed.

As Wright said, “They’re scrappy. We know that.”

Yes, the Royals still do the little things so well. They’re a tough matchup because they negate the Mets’ power pitching to some extent with their ability to put the ball in play. Matt Harvey, who provided a solid start but was a long way from the top of his game, managed only two strikeouts.

As Terry Collins said of Harvey, “Did he have his A-plus stuff? No, but I thought he was pretty good. They’re a tough team that puts the ball in play.”

In addition, the Royals take the extra base when it counts, they play excellent defense, and they just seem to have a knack for making the right play at the right time.

As it turned out, Eric Hosmer — yes, him again — pulled off one of the biggest plays of the night. This time he didn’t steal a run with a dash from third to home on a throw to first, but surprised the Mets by dropping down a bunt in the sixth inning when Wright was shifted well over toward shortstop.

No more than 7 images from any single MLB game, workout, activity or event may be used (including online and on apps) while that game, activity or event is in progressJamie Squire/Getty Images

Matt Harvey is efficient but not great as the pesky Royals chase him out after 5.2 innings.

He still barely beat Wright’s throw, but the bunt single put runners at first and second in an inning that proved to be Harvey’s undoing.

The Cespedes error had cost him a run, but Harvey worked efficiently through five innings, allowing one other run, and he seemed very much in control even after the Hosmer bunt, getting a ground-ball double play.

But he couldn’t get the final out of the sixth, when the game was still 2-0, and that changed everything. Trying to fool Alex Gordon with a backdoor curveball, Harvey let the pitch up just enough where Gordon could line it to center for an RBI single to make it 3-0.

And then, just as importantly, Sal Perez singled as well, convincing Terry Collins to bring in Bartolo Colon, who gave up another single to make it 4-0.

Afterward Harvey said he was searching for his rhythm and release point at times during the game, perhaps a consequence of the much-publicized blood clot in his bladder that threw him off his routine leading up to the game.

In any case, Harvey admitted, “I wasn’t able to make a pitch when I really needed to” in the sixth inning.

At that point it looked like a formula win for the Royals, until their bullpen faltered. The Mets really should have at least found a way to tie it, given their opportunities.

Instead, the Royals still own them.

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