If the Mets lose out on home-field advantage to the Dodgers by one game come October, they will surely remember this game as the one that got away.

The Mets blew an early 4-0 lead and went on to lose 6-5 thanks to a couple of base-running and defensive blunders, plus a small village of 13 men left on base. They went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, continuing a concerning trend.

Pete Alonso hammered his third home run in two days, a solo shot, and one inning later, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte followed suit with solo homers of their own. Brett Baty’s sac fly put the Mets up by four in the third.

But Mets starter David Peterson, in a very strong seven-inning start, allowed three runs in the bottom of the third. Those were the only runs Peterson let up on the day, along with two walks to go with his six strikeouts.

New York’s mistakes began in the sixth and would go on to doom them. With the Mets up 4-3 and two runners in scoring position, Starling Marte was picked off third base by LA catcher Will Smith on a Jeff McNeil strikeout.

In the eighth, after Alonso added an insurance run to extend the lead to 5-3, Brett Baty fielded a grounder but double-clutched his throw home and threw wildly, allowing Smith to score the tying run. Former Met Michael Conforto gave the Dodgers the lead with a single to score Andy Pages.

“That’s a good team and when you give them extra bases, extra outs, they’re going to make you pay,” said Mets Manager Carlos Mendoza.

Francisco Alvarez singled off Dodgers closer Tanner Scott to give the Mets life in the ninth. But after getting to a full count, Luisangel Acuña flew out to end the ball game.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Despite his base-running blunder, Starling Marte had a great day at the plate batting second. Marte went 3-4 with a homer, double and a walk.

ON DECK

After four games against the current World Series favorite, the Mets travel to Colorado to face the worst team in baseball, albeit one that has won three straight games to improve to 12-50. Kodai Senga (6–3, 1.60 ERA) gets the start against the Rockies’ Antonio Senzatela (1–10, 7.14 ERA), who the Mets roughed up at home last week. Game time is 8:40 PM ET on SNY.