Much of Chris Bassitt’s success this season has revolved around avoiding leadoff walks and keeping the ball in the park. 

Neither trend continued for the right-hander Monday against the Cubs, leading to one of his worst performances of the season and a 5-2 loss for the Mets to begin their homestand. 

After walking only four leadoff batters all season, Bassitt twice started innings with walks on this night, leading to runs. And after going a career-high eight straight starts without surrendering a homer, Bassitt watched two balls disappear behind the right-field fence at Citi Field. 

“I just wasn’t locating,” Bassitt said. “Just a bad start. This entire game is on me and it’s unfortunate, but I will just work my butt off and go to the next one.” 

The Mets fell to 5-5 in this stretch against underwhelming opponents — the Nationals, Pirates and Marlins preceding the Cubs. The Mets began the night with a 1 ½-game lead on the Braves, who played later in San Francisco. 

Offensively, the Mets had chances. Twice they loaded the bases without scoring, on a night they finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. 

Bassitt’s outing was his second-shortest of the season. The right-hander lasted only 3 ²/₃ innings and allowed five earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks, departing after 73 pitches. 

It was a rare misfire at home for Bassitt, who entered the night with a 2.10 ERA in his previous nine starts at Citi Field. 

“He’s pitched at such a high level it really catches your attention,” manager Buck Showalter said. “But give [the Cubs] some credit. Chris has been such a rock for us all year and will be again.” 

Rafael Ortega homered in the second inning to give the Cubs their first run. The blast was the first allowed by Bassitt since July 23 against the Padres. 

In the third, Bassitt walked Alfonso Rivas leading off the inning before surrendering a two-run homer to Zach McKinstry. It was only the third homer this season for McKinstry, who began the night batting .192. 

Ian Happ walked leading off the fourth against Bassitt and scored on Oretga’s RBI single. Rivas’ bloop RBI single with two outs extended the Cubs’ lead to 5-0 and ended Bassitt’s night. 

The Mets wasted an opportunity in the first inning against Javier Assad, loading the bases with two outs before Mark Canha struck out. 

James McCann continued his recent surge with an RBI single in the fourth that brought the Mets within 5-1. The veteran catcher entered play 9-for-25 (.360) with a .448 on-base percentage over his previous nine games. 

Eduardo Escobar smashed a two-out triple in the sixth, but Tyler Naquin struck out for the third time. The sizzling Escobar owns a 10-game hitting streak, during which he is 18-for-36 (.500) with five homers. 

The Mets loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth, but Canha struck out before Escobar and pinch-hitter Darin Ruf were retired in succession against left-hander Brandon Hughes. Ruf, who flied to right field, is 1-for-33 (.030) since Aug. 18. 

“It’s frustrating, but it’s baseball, so it happens,” Ruf said. 

Showalter had the option of using Mark Vientos in that spot, but chose Ruf so he could keep him in the game as the right fielder without using another player from the bench. Showalter said he was considering Vientos as a possible pinch hitter for McCann if Ruf extended the inning. The Mets also would have needed a pinch- itter if the DH spot in the order (Daniel Vogelbach’s) arose; Mychal Givens pinch ran for Vogelbach after he walked to load the bases. 

“[Ruf] has been really good in that spot in his career, it just hasn’t been there for him lately,” Showalter said. “He hit a ball and it found a glove.” 

Francisco Lindor delivered a two-out homer in the ninth that gave the Mets their final run. The blast was Lindor’s 23rd this season. 

Tommy Hunter, Trevor May, Givens and Joely Rodriguez combined on 5 ¹/₃ innings of scoreless relief for the Mets. 

“I thought our bullpen was real good after the fact,” Showalter said. “We had a chance, we just couldn’t cash in a lot of opportunities we had. That was frustrating for us, because we had some opportunities with some good at-bats, we just couldn’t cash them in.”