ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Some were scolded, some were lined, some were blooped and some were grounded.
It did not seem to matter where Rays hitters placed their batted balls: Against Jose Quintana, they all found holes.
The Mets quickly found their way into a deep hole that they never could quite escape in a 10-8 loss Friday night to open a series with the Rays at Tropicana Field, where the most reliable pitcher Carlos Mendoza boasts came undone.
The Mets (16-16), who might be good and might be bad but definitely have proven interesting, have dropped eight of 12.
They followed up a loss on a disputed throw-out at the plate and a win on a walk-off double with a game they led by three, then trailed by six, then cut the gap to two.
A four-run fifth inning from the Mets brought them back into arm’s reach.
A second home run from Brett Baty gave them life in the ninth when they brought up Starling Marte as the tying run.
But Jason Adam struck out Marte to end a game that truly was lost with Quintana on the mound.
Quintana’s 20th start as a Met was his shortest and easily his worst, lasting just 2 ⅔ innings while allowing eight runs on 10 hits.
Quintana’s ERA rose from 3.48 to 5.20 despite the Rays batters’ average exit velocity (86.9 mph) being softer than batters had averaged in the lefty’s first six starts (89 mph).