CHICAGO — The Kodai Senga renaissance isn’t going as planned. But then again, nothing for the Mets is going as planned so far this year.

Coming off the worst start of his career, Senga lasted only 3 1/3 innings Friday, in a 12-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Mets’ losing streak has now reached nine, the most consecutive losses since they lost 11 in 2004.

A few hours before the series opener, the Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns affirmed the club’s commitment to manager Carlos Mendoza. Stearns mostly addressed the Mets’ lack of offense, and while a revamped lineup struggled against right-hander Edward Cabrera, there were other reasons for concern against the Cubs (10-9).

Senga has given up 13 earned runs in his last two starts. Despite good velocity and bad swings on the cutter, Senga couldn’t locate early in counts. He caught a break with Michael Busch, the Cubs’ No. 2 hitter, getting a ball four call overturned to bring the count full with one out, but he still ended up walking him when he threw his forkball in the dirt.

Alex Bregman singled to load the bases. Senga struck out Ian Happ for the second out, but he gave up an RBI single to Seiya Suzuki. Moisés Ballesteros teed off on the first pitch he saw, sending it over the left-field fence for a three-run homer, putting the Mets in a 4-0 hole.

They nearly came back to tie in the second inning, when Marcus Semien hit an RBI single, and with one out, Tyrone Taylor cleared the bases with a hit off the center-field wall. The speedy outfielder was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double, and the Mets did not challenge the call.

The next inning, Senga walked Dansby Swanson with one out, then gave up another home run, this one to Nico Hoerner. The Mets had Huascar Brazobán warming up as early as the third inning when Senga had two on with one out, but a double play got him out of it.

They brought Brazobán in during the fourth. Senga (0-2) was charged with seven runs (six earned), while walking three and striking out three. His ERA is 8.83 after four starts.

There were three infield singles, one that was the result of a failed force out, and an error by Brett Baty at first base that resulted in an unearned run. The Cubs increased the lead to 7-3.

It went to 10-3 in the seventh when the Cubs took three runs off left-hander Sean Manaea, and 12-3 in the eighth when Happ hit a two-run homer off him.

Manaea finished the game for the Mets (7-13), throwing four innings in relief.

Cabrera (2-0) went six innings in the win, blanking the Mets for five innings after their three in the first innings. They managed eight hits off of him, walking twice and striking out four times.

Mendoza might be safe, but the season is very much in danger of spinning out of control. The longest losing streak in 22 years certainly merits some sort of shakeup, which could mean removing Senga from the rotation for someone like Christian Scott, who is currently in Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets also need to figure out what to do with Manaea going forward.

So far this year, the team built to prevent runs has only managed to prevent wins.

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