Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets lost to the Red Sox 6-3 Tuesday night at Fenway Park, losing the third game of four total with Boston this season.

The game started rather uneventful, with each team trading scoreless innings over the first five frames. But then both starters–Marcus Stroman and Eduardo Rodriguez–lost a bit of control beginning in the bottom of the third.

First came Stroman, making his major-league leading 32nd start this season. He loaded the bases with none out, but a 5-2-3 double play off the bat of Xander Bogaerts and pop out from Rafael Devers got Stroman out of the jam.

Rodriguez then one-up’d Stroman, loading the bases himself with no outs in the top of the fourth. Two came around to score, though, on a J.D. Davis walk and Michael Conforto single–still with no out. But Pete Alonso was thrown out at home on Conforto’s hit (on a bad send by Gary DiSarcina), and Kevin Pillar and Dominic Smith couldn’t knock anyone home afterward. So what could’ve been a blow-the-bloody-doors-off inning turned into just a 2-0 lead.

But that’s when the Red Sox, donning their yellow-and-blue, Boston Marathon-themed City Connect jerseys, started peppering Stroman with extra-base hits.

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Bobby Dalbec and Christian Vazquez socked back-to-back doubles. Then Kiké Hernandez opened the bottom of the fifth with a home run to left-center field over the Green Monster, Kyle Schwarber schwacked a double off the wall and Bogaerts matched Hernandez with a two-run homer to the same spot.

Stroman retired the next three batters, but the Red Sox did all the damage they needed with their stretch of five extra-base hits in six batters between the fourth and fifth innings. That put them up 4-2.

The Mets flirted with runs again amidst the Sox’s charge. Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor sat on second and third with one out in the top of the fifth. Rodriguez was removed from the game and replaced with Ryan Brasier, though, and he struck out Javier Báez and got Alonso to ground out to end that date.

Miguel Castro and Brad Hand joined forces to allow two more runs on three two-out walks and a single off Bogaerts’ bat, and the Mets wouldn’t touch the scoreboard again until the eighth when Pete Alonso bolted his 34th home run of the year off a sign above the Green Monster.

Heath Hembree, facing his old team, pitched the final two Red Sox frames with six-up and six-down, but the Mets couldn’t climb back from the four-run hole against a questionable Boston bullpen that has the second-worst ERA in the American League since August 1.

The Mets will try to avoid a four-game season sweep by the Red Sox on Wednesday as Taijuan Walker (7-10, 4.21) makes his 28th start of the year (29th if you include his “relief” appearance in the continuation of the suspended game from April). He’ll face off against Chris Sale (4-0, 2,40), who hasn’t lost any of his six starts since returning in August from Tommy John surgery.

Sale had his surgery right around when Noah Syndergaard had his in March 2020, and he had a set back early on in the 2021 season. That allowed him ample time to recover from that, and he’ll probably have eight or nine starts under his belt before the year ends. Sale also contracted COVID-19 (like Syndergaard) earlier this month and threw five innings of one-run ball against the Orioles in his first start back.

Player of the Game

Let’s give this to Pete Alonso for his 34th dinger of the year. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and the homer.

He’s really having just a wonderful season, leading the team in homers, RBI, hits, runs, walks and, dare I say, triples! He’s also among the top of the Mets’ ranks with a 130 wRC+.

On top of all that, Alonso is the team’s Roberto Clemente Award nominee, so, really, this is just a celebration of Alonso as a whole.