SAN DIEGO — Seth Lugo’s ninth-inning meltdown against the Dodgers could have been a product of the situation. 

In assessing the right-hander’s woes from the previous day, when Lugo surrendered two runs in the ninth inning for a blown save, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner on Monday indicated the reliever was overthrowing, which might have had a direct correlation to receiving a rare closing opportunity. 

“It’s human nature,” Hefner said before the Mets beat the Padres, 11-5 at Petco Park, but the bullpen gave up three runs after stellar outing from Carlos Carrasco. “You are trying to close out a major league baseball game and he doesn’t get that opportunity very often, so I am sure there was a little bit of an adrenaline bump.” 

Edwin Diaz worked a perfect eighth inning against the top of the Dodgers’ batting order, leaving the ninth for Lugo. Will Smith hit a leadoff homer and Eddy Alvarez’s RBI single tied the game before the Mets rallied to win in 10 innings. 

“I saw a guy that was competing at a very high level and I think by his own admission maybe overthrew a little bit at times and that caused some balls to be in places where he didn’t want to be,” Hefner said. “Lugo’s success has been commanding the baseball and he didn’t have his best command and he gave up the runs, but it was a good experience for him to come in and try to get the save there.” 

Lugo has a 3.86 ERA in 23 appearances. He hadn’t allowed an earned run in his previous six appearances before Sunday’s clunker. 

“There’s some instances when he didn’t have his best command and it got him beat a little bit, but overall he’s been a main cog for us down there,” Hefner said. “We wouldn’t be in this position without him.” 

Tylor Megill was set to rejoin the team (he hasn’t been activated) and is a strong possibility to start this weekend against the Angels, according to manager Buck Showalter. The right-hander pitched 3 ²/₃ innings for Double-A Binghamton on Sunday in a rehab start. Megill would have the potential of pitching five innings for the Mets in a first start back from the injured list. Megill was placed on the IL with right biceps inflammation on May 12. 

The Mets entered play 5-0 in extra-inning games this season. Only the Padres (who were 6-3) had more victories in extra innings. Last season the Mets went 11-7 in extra innings.