New York Mets fans distressed after being shutout at home by lowly Washington Nationals: "Mets should be ashamed" "Pitiful performance"

The New York Mets' losing streak hit three games on Tuesday night following a 5-0 shutout loss to the visiting Washington Nationals.

Washington entered the game with the worst record in the National League at 7-14, but that did not stop them from dominating the Mets over nine innings at Citi Field.

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Josiah Gray kept the New York Mets bats muted by allowing four hits and one walk while striking out nine over six innings. Reliever Mason Thompson completed the shutout by allowing just one hit while striking out four over three innings.

No Mets batter managed more than one hit, though both of the team's highly regarded rookies — Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty — did figure among those tallying New York's five total hits.

Needless to say, Mets Nation was displeased about the offensive outage in Queens, a performance unbefitting a team with World Series expectations.

The New York Mets countered with starting pitcher Jose Butto, who didn't pitch poorly but just wasn't up to Gray's level. Butto allowed the Washington Nationals four hits and two earned runs over 4-2/3 innings, before the Nationals opened up on reliever Jimmy Yacabonis. He went two innings, giving up six hits and three earned runs to all but put the game out of reach for the hosts.

The Mets entered Tuesday with a day's rest after returning from a West Coast road trip that ended with a thud as New York lost two straight to the similarly lowly San Francisco Giants over the weekend.

With the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves coming to town on Friday for a three-game showdown over early-season division dominance, the Mets have two more games against the Washington Nationals to get their act together before the Braves invade Queens.

One bright note for the New York Mets: the team re-did its advertising patches for the New York Presbyterian. When introduced a couple of weeks ago, the large white square patches were widely mocked by the team's fanbase.

The newer patches are smaller, rectangular, and feature the team's blue-and-orange color scheme. Mets owner Steve Cohen had previously noted that the sleeve advertisements needed to be more "Met appropriate".

Washington Nationals and New York Mets got at it twice more in this series

Luis Garcia #2 of the Washington Nationals scores in the sixth inning as Francisco Alvarez #4 of the New York Mets defends

The Mets and Nationals face each other twice more in the series. The first pitch on both Wednesday and Thursday nights is slated for 6:10 p.m.