PITTSBURGH — The Pirates’ offense once again didn’t support their strong pitching.

Pittsburgh limited the New York Mets to three runs but lost for the second consecutive day, held to five hits in a 3-1 defeat Wednesday.

Charlie Morton (2-5) lost for the fourth time in five starts, allowing three runs and eight hits in seven innings. The Pirates have dropped three of four and four of six, scoring a total of six runs in the four most recent defeats.

“Honestly, when I come to the field on a day I’m pitching, I expect them to score runs,” Morton said of his offense. “And if they don’t, they don’t. They’re going to catch on. We’ve got a really talented group of guys.”

Pittsburgh ranks last in the majors with 126 runs but is among the NL leaders with a 3.33 ERA.

Morton wasn’t sharp Wednesday, but he retired his final seven batters in addition to a stretch between the second and fourth innings in which he sent down eight of nine.

“It wasn’t necessarily great pitching,” Morton said. “Just competing.”

Pittsburgh almost was no-hit by Detroit’s Justin Verlander on Friday and had struck out 63 times in the five games heading into Wednesday.

The Pirates lost 3-2 Tuesday and struck out eight times Wednesday. Five were by Jonathon Niese, who allowed one run in 7 2-3 innings to help the Mets to their third win in four games.

Niese (3-2) gave up five hits, struck out five and walked two, five days after matching his career high by allowing eight runs in a 14-5 loss at Toronto. He ended a six-start winless streak.

Niese sat down with pitching coach Dan Warthen and veteran ace Johan Santana to discuss his approach to individual hitters. He did “a lot more preparation” in leading up to facing the Pirates.

“He was very effective, kept the ball down, bought some territory inside from time to time with the cutter, ” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said.