New look, same bad results. The Mets Saturday and aside from looking like knockoff Colorado Rockies, they played like it, too, in a 7-4 lo s to St. Louis at Citi Field. Adrian Houser was miserable for a third time in five starts as a Met and the offense couldnt overcome his poor outing as they lost for the fifth time in six games to fall back to .500 (13-13). Adrian Houser struggled again in the lo s. AP It came against a Cardinals team that had lost five of six before beating the Mets in Queens to open the series Friday. Trailing by three in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets loaded the bases before Francisco Lindor popped out to end it. Explore More The main culprit, though, was Houser. He was bad again, this time getting off to a brutal start after hed alternated decent outings with terrible performances in his first four starts as a Met, when he was good at home and bad on the road. Teuvo Teravainen Jersey On Saturday, Houser allowed five of the first six hitters to reach and four of them scored. Carlos Mendoza said Housers spot in the rotation is not in jeopardy. Still, Houser was honest in his a se sment of how hes performed, having allowed 14 runs in his last two starts. New York Mets first base coach Antoan Richardson #66 gets in between Francisco Lindor #12 and first base umpire Laz Diaz after Lindor was called out during the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field. Getty Images The way Im pitching right now is pretty unacceptable, Houser said. I need to be better. I cant be putting guys in a hole like this. Asked whats been wrong, Houser said, Ive been wracking my brain the last couple weeks, trying to figure it out. Im in a little bit of a rut. The game is punching me in the mouth right now. Ive got to punch back. The Mets, after getting to three games over .500 thanks to a six-game winning streak, have since lost all but one game, coming up short in all facets of the game. Down 6-0, they mounted a rally in the fifth against ex-Yankee Sonny Gray, who entered with a 1.04 ERA and dominated them through the first four innings. Josh Walker #91 of the New York Mets reacts after balking home a run during the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field. Getty Images Tyrone Taylor reached on an error by Nolan Arenado at third and Brett Baty walked. After a wild pitch moved the runners up, Brandon Nimmo drove them both in and Pete Alonso followed two batters later to make it 6-4. The offense stalled the rest of the way. Houser began the game by giving up a leadoff double to Brendan Donovan, which skipped off a diving Alonsos glove and into right field. Willson Contreras followed with a flare single to right to put runners on the corners. Mets first base Pete Alonso reacts after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals. Bill Kostroun/New York Post Houser got Lars Nootbar to foul out, but Arenados single to right another bloop scored Donovan for the games first run. Goldschmidt then drilled a two-run double to left-center to make it 3-0. A two-out RBI single by Masyn Winn increased the lead to 4-0 before Housers 32-pitch first inning ended. The latest poor performance bumped Housers ERA to a whopping 8.37. The Mets broke through against Gray in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Nimmos two-run single. Lindor struck out one of his four on the day before Alonso homered to right-center to make it a two-run game. Delivering insights on all things Amazins Sign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+ Thank you By clicking above you agree to the and . Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! The Cardinals tacked on another run on a Donovan sacrifice fly in the eighth. Taylor and Mark Vientos singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Tomas Nido popped out and after Nimmo walked, Lindor came up short. If you look from where we started, weve come a long way, Alonso said. Weve been in these games the whole way through. Its not nece sarily ideal that were not winning games, but were playing really good ball. Tony Amonte Jersey