Despite the presence of Jeff McNeil, Todd Frazier got another start against a right-hander on Tuesday even though he has put up dreadful numbers versus righties.

Mickey Callaway pointed to putting more importance on infield defense with Marcus Stroman on the mound.

“Really, it’s ground balls,’’ the manager said before the Mets lost to the Cubs, 5-2, at Citi Field. “We’re hoping Stroman has a great day keeping the ball down and gets a lot of ground balls. We decided infield defense over outfield.”

And that meant McNeil was in right field, Michael Conforto in center — and the surging Juan Lagares on the bench.

Asked if he was concerned about his playing time being cut with the return of McNeil and continued solid play from Lagares, Joe Panik and others, a testy Frazier replied: “No. That’s for you to write.”

None of it worked out.

Frazier went hitless against Yu Darvish and was booed after he struck out looking in the fifth. And Conforto took a bad route on a double by Victor Caratini that preceded Addison Russell’s two-run homer off Stroman in the fifth.

“There were a couple tough balls on a line,’’ Callaway said. “We trust [Conforto] out in center. Juan Lagares is a great, great center fielder. When we’re making out the lineup, we always keep that in mind. Lagares maybe he makes one or two of those plays.”

Frazier, who also walked, was fine at third base, but acknowledged his recent struggles at the plate.

He entered Tuesday with just a .641 OPS against righties this season, down significantly from his career mark of .750. And while he’s been effective against left-handers, with an .878 OPS versus southpaws, which is an improvement over his career number of .807, his overall numbers have been ugly lately.

Frazier is hitting just .185 (31-for-168) with seven doubles, a triple and five home runs in 181 plate appearances covering 46 games since July 2. He’s also walked 11 times and whiffed 49 times in that span, with an OPS of just .577. And he has just one hit in his last 17 at-bats.

Frazier said he was focused on “just hitting get hits and finding a way to win games.”

“It’s not the best I’ve been, but at the end of the day, those 0-for-4 [games] aren’t gonna matter if we win games,’’ Frazier said. “I want to play better offense and play better defense and hopefully be the hero of one of these games. That’s what I’m looking for. Maybe make a defensive play that helps.”

Lagares hasn’t had much success against righties, either, with a .581 OPS when facing them this year, but his overall numbers have improved of late, going 16-for-44 with five extra-base hits in his last dozen games.

Purchase event tickets to The Amazin’ 1969 New York Mets: A World Championship for the Ages presented by The Paley Center for Media and New York Post. Enter promo code: NYPOST to unlock tickets only available for Post readers.