DETROIT — The Mets were lethargic Thursday, and that was even before Brandon Nimmo’s curious decision to attempt a steal of second base with the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning.

Nimmo, running on his own, got thrown out, just one last maddening memory for the Mets in getting swept three games by one of MLB’s worst teams.

Justin Verlander was respectable in his Mets debut, but his lineup was stifled in a 2-0 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.

The Mets, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games, were shut out for the sixth time this season.

Nimmo delivered the Mets’ third hit of the day, a single against Tigers closer Alex Lange with one out in the ninth.

With Starling Marte at the plate, Nimmo bolted for second and was thrown out by Jake Rogers, removing the tying run possibility.

Moments later Marte struck out to end the game.

Nimmo cited Lange’s 1.55 seconds to home plate with his delivery and the desire to remove the double play on a grounder for his decision to attempt the stolen base.

“On 1.55 [seconds] I am thinking I should be there pretty much every time,” Nimmo said. “That is what I was thinking in my head: 10 out of 10 times I should be there, even on a bad jump. Also, the guy likes to throw a lot of curveballs and it was a curveball count. I made the decision. It was mine alone and it obviously didn’t work out.”

In the future would Nimmo take that kind of risk again if presented with the same situation?

“Now there’s a second thought in my head,” Nimmo said. “Now there’s that, ‘I have been thrown out the one time,’ so I don’t know. I guess we’ll leave that for another time, but there is probably not a good chance of that in the near-future.”

Eduardo Rodriguez fired eight shutout innings with nine strikeouts to frustrate the Mets, who had 16 straight batters retired before Nimmo’s single in the ninth.

Verlander’s debut after spending over a month rehabbing from a strained teres major muscle near his right armpit started roughly with two home runs allowed in the first inning.

But the right-hander survived, lasting through the fifth with only the two earned runs allowed on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

He threw 79 pitches.

Consecutive homers by Riley Greene and Javier Baez accounted for the runs against him.

The former Tigers star received a standing ovation from the crowd as he walked to the mound in the first inning.

Verlander spent 13 seasons with the Tigers before he was traded to the Astros in 2017.

He arrived to the Mets last offseason on a two-year contract worth $86.6 million.

“We need to find our identity I think right now,” Verlander said. “We have played some really good baseball. This series was difficult. We had a game where we battled like hell at the plate and came back and had our hearts broken at the end and the opposite happened today where we gave up a couple early and weren’t able to fight back offensively. I feel like it hasn’t quite matched up yet.”

The Mets’ chances were scarce.

Tommy Pham singled in the second inning and was thrown out attempting to steal second.

Eduardo Escobar walked in the third and was left stranded and Marte’s leadoff single was wasted in the fourth.

Nimmo’s single in the ninth provided brief hope — until he was thrown out trying to steal second.

“It’s like a 30-foot jump shot,” manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s by-product of us trying to push something that is not there. Guys are pushing — outs are precious. But he’s a really good player for us and we’re lucky to have him and that isn’t what beat us. We had three hits and what, hit one ball hard all day? That is the thing I dwell on.”