In a flashback to when the teams played last October in the NL wild-card series, the Mets were reduced to meek observers at the plate Tuesday night by the Padres. 

Five hits, none for extra bases, wasn’t going to accomplish much.

Credit lefty Ryan Weathers and the San Diego bullpen, but this is also a Mets team that entered the night among the bottom third of MLB clubs in many key offensive categories, with a .218 team batting average, which was last in the National League, a particular eyesore. 

The Mets didn’t deliver a hit with runners in scoring position until the ninth inning and played the role of fire hydrant in losing 4-2 to the Padres on “Bark in the Park” night at Citi Field. 

The eighth inning was the Mets’ first shot at redemption, but with two runners on base, Francisco Lindor struck out after hitting a loud foul ball into the right-field porch moments earlier.

In the ninth, Josh Hader allowed an RBI single to Tommy Pham, but struck out Francisco Alvarez with runners on second and third to end it. 

The Mets (6-6) lost for the second time in three games, but can still secure a winning homestand with a victory in the series finale Wednesday afternoon. 

The Mets trailed just 2-1 heading into the ninth inning before Dennis Santana surrendered a two-run homer to Xander Bogaerts that gave the Padres a cushion. 

David Peterson kept the Mets in the game by allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 5 ²/₃ innings.

The left-hander, who averaged 94 mph with his four-seam fastball — an uptick from his previous starts this season — was removed after 89 pitches. 

Peterson came within one pitch of escaping trouble in the fifth, but Manny Machado jumped on a 2-2 slider and placed it just inside the foul line behind third base for a two-run double that gave the Padres a 2-1 lead. 

The Padres enjoyed hard contact against Peterson in the inning.

Luis Campusano blasted a single at 98.5 mph off the bat to begin the inning and Brandon Dixon smashed a shot through the third base hole for a single at 107.2 mph.

Peterson then retired Bogaerts on a grounder that Alonso turned into the second out, but Machado delivered. 

Lindor’s leadoff single in the fourth inning led to the Mets taking a 1-0 lead on Mark Canha’s sacrifice fly. Pete Alonso singled in the inning and was picked off first by Weathers. 

The Mets’ most frustrating inning might have been the first, when they loaded the bases with nobody out on a Starling Marte bunt single sandwiched between two walks.

But Alonso struck out before Canha hit into a double play.