Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

Maybe we should go back to 10 p.m. starts.

The Mets’ return from the West Coast was a dud, losing 10-3 to the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night in the first of a two-game series.

Pete Alonso launched a two-run homer in the first inning–hit first of two on the night (the second came on a solo shot in the ninth), but it was all downhill from there.

David Peterson struggled for his second-straight start, with his command all over the place once again.

He allowed four runs in just 2.2 innings, needing 69 pitches to get through the eight outs. Peterson looked visibly distraught after getting pulled in the third, as that’s now nine earned runs allowed over his last three innings (two starts).

The Mets may be forced to re-examine Peterson’s spot in the rotation, as he now has six bad starts to go against five good ones. Right now, though, Peterson doesn’t exactly look like a guy with lots of confidence, and his 6.32 ERA doesn’t instill any.

You start to wonder what better options there are, though, especially when the Mets are heading into a part of their schedule where they’ll desperately need starting pitching over the next month with 33 games in 31 days.

Robert Gsellman and Drew Smith relieved Peterson and allowed five more runs to score over the next three innings as the Orioles red-hot offense churned along against one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. It’s only the third time all season the Mets allowed at least 10 earned runs.

Drew Smith finished the final two innings, allowing a solo homer to Anthony Santander in his final frame. That brought the game score to double digits for the Orioles, which feels right given that the game felt like a true shellacking. The O’s have now scored 28 runs on 37 hits in their last 16 offensive frames.

Taijuan Walker will look to slow them down Wednesday. Walker shut the O’s when he faced them in May, allowing one run over seven frames. (The run came in the seventh when the Mets already had a 7-0 lead.)

Opposing him, we’ll get the second iteration of Harvey Day in 2021 as Matt Harvey gets another start against his former team. (Walker was the starter for the first Harvey Day, too.) The Mets roughed Harvey up pretty good the first time around with seven runs in four innings. It was his worst start of the year to date, but he hasn’t pitched much better since then, giving up six, five and five earned runs in each of his next three starts.

Harvey righted the ship a bit last time out versus Minnesota, allowing one run in three innings, but his ERA is still 6.62 on the year. He’ll likely be on a short leash Wednesday, whether he pitches well or not.

If there’s anything to remember from Tuesday’s game, it’s the fact you could hear “Let’s Go Mets” chants before the first pitch was thrown, the Mets and Orioles fans united in a “Yankees Suck” chant in the eighth, and we also got this wonderful Gary Cohen rant:

Just forget about the rest (except for maybe Pete’s two-home-run game), and get ready for tomorrow.