Zack Wheeler escaped trouble once Friday night with the help of Michael Conforto’s glove.
There was no leather to save the Mets’ starter three innings later, unless fans in the right-field upper deck brought along gloves to shield themselves from Cody Bellinger’s rocket of a grand slam.
That was all it took to sink the Mets.
On a day when general manager Sandy Alderson said his team needed to start winning “almost immediately” to keep playing for 2018, the Mets lost their fourth straight game and 16th in their past 20, falling to the Dodgers 5-2 at Citi Field.