Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Mets starter Marcus Stroman began Sunday having allowed just three home runs in his first seven starts of the season, but the Rays strung him for three home runs in their 7-1 win at Tropicana Field.

The game was scoreless going into the fourth inning until Mets killer Manuel Margot hit a two-run homer to give the Rays a 2-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Stroman allowed his second two-run homer of the game, this time to Rays’ shortstop Willy Adames.

Finally, Brandon Lowe tagged Stroman for a solo homer in the sixth inning to give the Rays a 7-1 lead. All of the long ball damage came after Stroman retired the 10 of the first 11 batters he faced in the game.

Along with the three home run balls allowed, Stroman struck out a season low one batter. It was only the second time in his career that he pitched at least six innings and struck out only one.

“Just looking at the three home runs that he allowed…I thought that his sinker wasn’t getting the down movement,” manager Luis Rojas said.

Stroman’s final line:

6 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, BB, K, 3 HR, L

Command of his sinker was clearly an issue on Sunday, but the lack of swings and misses on his slider was concerning as well. He has a 31% whiff rate on his slider for the season, though he got only one out of 12 swings (8%) on the pitch during this start. Velocity, spin rate, and horizontal movement were all below the norm for Stro, so it’s not hard to see why the Rays hitters were making more contact with the pitch.

Stroman’s ERA jumped to 2.72 on the season and his WHIP is now at 1.036, both overall impressive numbers for the Mets current No. 2 starter.

The right-handers next start will be against the Marlins this weekend when the Mets travel to Miami for a three-game series.