TORONTO -- You can’t count on lightning to strike twice.

Two games and one extra-base hit into the series at Rogers Centre, the Mets are back where they started, tied with the Braves in the National League Wild Card race after a 6-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Tuesday evening.

The early innings made it look like the Mets were on their way to realignment. But not much went their way past the second frame, and the offensive struggles that underscored Sunday’s streak-snapping loss to the Reds continued to gnaw.

“Unfortunately, I've got to keep saying this: It's baseball,” said Brandon Nimmo, who picked up the Mets’ sole RBI. “It goes up and down. We won nine games in a row, and things are really good, but you're not going to win them all. Sometimes the offense is going to struggle a little bit, and you can't really control when that's going to happen throughout a year.”

Better now than in October, though one is predicated on the other.

Luck was on the visitors’ side in Monday’s opener, when the Mets manufactured a pair of late runs on the bases to eke out a win. But that was behind a tremendous effort by Tylor Megill and the high-leverage arms in the bullpen. This time, David Peterson didn’t make it out of the fifth inning, and the deficit got too deep for luck.

“We’re grinding,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “It’s one of those stretches where we're not putting much together, but we still find ways to get the job done. That wasn't the case today.”

The Mets did come out on a mission, ready to pick up some steam.

After Francisco Lindor and Jesse Winker led off the game with hits, Nimmo came through with a two-out RBI single to grab an early lead. That was the extent of the damage, though, and the Mets got a rare stumble from one of their starters on the other side.

Peterson -- so reliable for most of the year -- matched his shortest start of the season, departing after 4 1/3 innings after allowing five runs (four earned, all four in the third frame). That ended a stretch of five consecutive quality starts for the left-hander.

“They're human,” said Mendoza. “It's hard to expect them to be perfect all the time. And today was the case. It was one of those nights where it didn't go our way.”

Momentum threatened to turn in the top of the seventh by way of a string of encouraging at-bats. That included an eight-pitch walk from Tyrone Taylor and a flyout that left Mark Vientos’ bat at 100.6 mph. But beyond a run scored on a passed ball, the Mets had little to show for it, as Pete Alonso struck out looking on the 11th pitch he saw from reliever Zach Pop to end the frame and strand a runner on third.

“We just couldn’t get the big hit,” said Mendoza.

This is no time for bargaining or moral victories. But if there’s one silver lining here, it’s that this team has found ways to win even through offensive downturns.

Look no further than the season-best nine-game win streak that ended on Sunday. During that stretch, the Mets got by on a below-average 4.5 runs per game while collectively hitting .241. The streak was made possible in large part due to the club’s pitching, which recorded a 1.78 ERA in that span.

On the odd night when a pitcher’s humanity comes out, though, the offense will need to step up.

“The thing that I'm most confident in is that everybody in here will continue to work and try to become the best version of themselves for right now,” said Nimmo. “Sometimes, whatever you have for that day is what you've got. You just go and you battle with it. So obviously, we would love to be putting up more runs, but that’s just not the way that it's going right now. And I know that each one of these guys will keep working to try and remedy that.”

After Wednesday’s finale in Toronto, the Mets will head for Philadelphia for an NL East showdown over the weekend. Course correcting during this road trip may allow New York to be more in control of its own fate by the time a crucial road set with the Braves begins two weeks from now.

Better to take care of business than to rely on the whims of luck.