Mets’ Jose Quintana struggles through rare rough outing

ANAHEIM, Calif. — It was an afternoon of too much “grinding” for Jose Quintana and not enough control of his pitches.

The left-hander has been the team’s best starting pitcher since mid-June, but on Sunday had runners on base early against the Angels and drove up his pitch count.

The best that could be said of his performance was he didn’t bury the Mets in their 3-2 loss at Angel Stadium.

Overall, the left-hander allowed three earned runs on three hits and four walks and a hit batter over five innings.

“I didn’t throw enough strikes and too many times I was behind in the count,” Quintana said. “I felt off in my mechanics and during the game I made adjustments, but I gave up a couple of runs. It’s frustrating when physically you feel great, but I wasn’t able to command the ball, particularly the breaking ball.”

Quintana over his last nine starts has pitched to a 2.37 ERA.

That includes the gem he pitched in his previous outing, when he limited the Twins to one earned run over six innings.

But on Sunday, he fell into a 2-0 hole in the second inning after allowing two hits and a walk with a wild pitch mixed in.

In the third inning, Quintana allowed a leadoff triple to Zach Neto that led to the Angels scoring their third run.

Quintana had a walk and hit batter in the inning.

“He wasn’t feeling his mechanics today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He was rushing and he felt like his arm wasn’t catching up, especially on the breaking ball. But he found a way to give us five innings.”

The afternoon at least ended on a solid note for Quintana: He got Nolan Schanuel to hit into an inning-ending double play in the fourth before retiring all three batters he faced in the fifth.

He was removed after 96 pitches.

“It’s one of those days you need to compete, no matter what,” Quintana said. “No matter what, you need to fight. Unfortunately, I didn’t get deeper into the game.”

Adam Ottavino, Danny Young and Phil Maton combined for three scoreless innings in relief behind Quintana.

Edwin Diaz was warming up in the ninth and would have entered if the Mets tied the game, but the closer hasn’t pitched since Tuesday when he recorded a four-out save against the Twins.