Cristopher Sánchez has an uncharacteristic outing in Phillies’ 13-3 loss to Mets in series opener

NEW YORK — For nine minutes in the top of the fifth inning here Monday night, the Phillies and Mets paused while two parabolic microphones were removed from both edges of the batter’s eye in center field.

Cristopher Sánchez needed time to calm down anyway.

After dominating the Mets once through the batting order, Sánchez yielded three runs on five hits to fumble a three-run lead in the fourth inning, then returned to the dugout and kicked a trash can like Messi attacks a soccer ball.

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It was an uncharacteristic show of emotion for cucumber-cool Sánchez. But then, this was an equally rare unraveling for the Phillies’ de facto No. 1 starter in the absence of Zack Wheeler.

And after play finally resumed, Sánchez gave up the go-ahead run — with an assist to a botched rundown between Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott — in a 13-3 loss that was tight before the Mets broke it open with four runs against Jordan Romano, who has been downgraded from embattled to unusable.

“For the whole season, this was my worst outing when it comes to the changeup,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “We could all see that out there. I missed a lot of pitches throughout the start. They didn’t get me at the beginning, but they made the adjustment and got me there.”

OK, before we go further, a dose of perspective: The Phillies (76-55) lead the second-place Mets (70-61) by six games with 31 games to play. Entering the week, Fangraphs gave them a 90.9% chance to win the National League East. A loss in the opener of a three-game series does little to change that.

But — you knew there was a “but,” right? — the worst thing the Phillies can do this week is to breathe life into the Mets, who have been among the worst teams in baseball for two months but have now won eight consecutive home games against the Phillies, including last year’s postseason.

In that case, coughing up an early 3-0 lead in this house of horrors with their best pitcher on the mound was, well, less than ideal.

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“Obviously, we wanted to try to get a sweep, and you know that’s not going to happen,” Harper said. “But trying to win the series, that’s the big thing, you know? [Not letting the Mets] putting a dent in the six- or seven-game lead.”

Said manager Rob Thomson: “This was not what we were looking for coming in here. We’ve got another one tomorrow. Just got to turn the page on this one.”

Sánchez didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, and it all seemed so predictable. The tall lefty is an emerging Cy Young Award contender; the Mets entered with a .691 OPS against lefties, 77 points lower than against righties.

But the Mets appeared to figure something out the second time through the order. Harper suggested they might have picked something up against Sánchez.

“He might have been tipping a little bit,” Harper said. “We’ll see. The Mets are so good at it. I think they’re one of the best teams in the game at really getting guys and getting tips.”

In any case, Sánchez gave up hits in the fourth inning on each of his three pitches: sinker, changeup, and slider. He balked a runner to second base when he said his cleat “slipped in a way that I wasn’t able to throw the ball.” He uncorked the next ball to the backstop for a wild pitch. With two out, he walked .206-hitting Tyrone Taylor.

Mark Vientos stroked Sánchez’s signature changeup for a double. Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and Phillies-killer-for-all-seasons Jeff McNeil singled on first pitches — all with two out — with McNeil punching a slider through the left side to tie the game.

“The biggest issue was that he was getting behind in the count,” Thomson said. “Three walks, which he doesn’t usually do. I thought early he was really good until he got his cleat stuck.”

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Sánchez’s control remained elusive in the fifth inning. Even so, he could’ve been out of it with the game tied after nearly picking off Juan Soto at first base. But Harper held the ball too long before making a throw to Stott, who was unable to catch it and charged with an error.

“Just got to get rid of it earlier,” Harper said.

After striking out Alonso for what would’ve been the third out, Sánchez left a sinker over the plate to Vientos, who stroked it into right field for a go-ahead double.

Thomson stuck with Sánchez to start the sixth inning at 84 pitches — “I trust Sánchy,” he said — and the lefty gave up doubles on changeups to Taylor and No. 9-hitting Luis Torrens. The latter made it 5-3, knocked Sánchez from the game, and forced the Phillies to use the underbelly of the bullpen.

The Mets piled on against Romano and Joe Ross, finishing with 11 hits with runners in scoring position.

It happens — but more often to the Phillies than any other opponent that comes into Citi Field.

“I mean, it’s a good team over there,” Harper said. “Right now, we don’t play too well here, obviously. Tonight didn’t go the way we wanted it to and kind of got away from us there in the fifth, sixth inning. Just got to be better.”