NEW YORK -- Right-hander Taijuan Walker was flirting with history on Saturday night at Citi Field. He had a no-hitter going until the seventh inning.

When it was over, Walker picked up a no-decision as the Mets lost to the Dodgers, 2-1, in 10 innings.

• Box score

The score was tied at 1 in the top of the 10th inning when Cody Bellinger swung at a 2-1 pitch from Mets right-hander Yennsy Díaz and doubled down the right-field line, scoring automatic runner Corey Seager.

But what Walker did earlier in the night took some of the bitterness out of the tough loss. With their best pitcher, right-hander Jacob deGrom, on the injured list, the Mets needed someone to step up and carry the load. Before Saturday, it seemed no one in the Mets’ rotation was willing or able. In fact, in 33 starts since deGrom’s last outing on July 7, Mets starters were 3-13 with a 5.11 ERA.

It now looks like Walker could be that pitcher.

“We have to step up,” Walker said. “It was tough hearing that news [about deGrom]. We have to do our job and go out there and try to go deep in the game and pick him up while he recovers. I hope he comes back soon.”

Walker gave the Mets length on this day. He was dealing through the first six innings against Los Angeles. It helped that his split was magical. He retired the first seven hitters he faced before walking Billy McKinney in the third inning, then retired the next nine hitters he faced before walking his counterpart, Walker Buehler, in the sixth inning with one out. But Buehler was quickly erased when Trea Turner hit into an inning-ending double play.

“He was fired up. He wanted to go out there and put on a show,” teammate Michael Conforto said about Walker. “It’s a lineup of really good hitters over there and he went right after them.”

Walker said he knew he was doing something special by the fifth inning.

“You see the scoreboard and stuff,” Walker said. “I just wanted to keep going out there and do what I was doing. I kept pounding the strike zone and put the ball in play.”

But trouble came for Walker in the seventh inning. After retiring Max Muncy, Will Smith came to the plate and ended Walker’s no-hit bid with a mammoth home run to tie the score at 1. It was a “bad slider,” Walker said.

Then Walker started to struggle, allowing a double to Seager and a two-out walk to Chris Taylor. Mets manager Luis Rojas thought Taylor should have been struck out to end the inning. Rojas, who was ejected later in that inning for arguing balls and strikes, took Walker out of the game in favor of left-hander Aaron Loup, who was able to retire Bellinger to end the threat.

“[Walker] was cruising and it just seemed like a night that we weren't going to put a few hits together against him, so that was a big hit by Will [Smith] and to get him out of the game and get us to reset,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Rojas admired the way Walker threw the baseball.

“[Walker] threw the ball really well,” Rojas said. “Once again, the four-seam was in play with other stuff. The splitter, slider, everything was good for him. He kept these guys off-balance. It’s a tough lineup to pitch to.”

But the Mets ended up losing another close game to the Dodgers and fell 1 1/2 games behind the Braves and Phillies in the NL East. New York hopes to salvage the three-game series on Sunday night.

“There is a lot of stress on each pitch,” Rojas said. “It’s a really good experience for the guys. We have been playing a lot of one-run games the whole season. To have a team like this come in here and play these types of games, those are situations that make the team better.

“It was two good games and they were separated by a run. Some key at-bats we didn’t follow through. We have the hunger of coming back tomorrow and competing against these guys. We didn’t play sloppy today. We didn’t play sloppy yesterday. … Right now, you have to wash this one out, come back tomorrow, Sunday night game and face Max Scherzer, a guy that we know. Just be ready for it.”