QUICK AND PAINFUL LOSS*

Amazin's spoil Peterson's strong outing as bats go quiet in loss to Marlins

MIAMI — Two highlight reel defensive plays and solid pitching helped keep the Mets within one run of the Marlins for most of Friday night, but seizing their limited offensive opportunities proved problematic.

Left-hander Jesus Luzardo’s dominance for 5 2/₃ innings and well-struck balls later by Pete Alonso and Starling Marte that were caught to stifle scoring opportunities sank the Mets in a 2-1 loss at loanDepot park.

A day after playing a wellrounded game to win the opener, the

Mets managed only four hits and didn’t score until the ninth inning, when

Alonso cleared the right-field fence against A.J. Puk for the team’s first homer of the season.

“[Luzardo] executed a ton of his pitches and he really didn’t give us that much to hit in the zone,” Alonso said. “He was excellent all night.”

Jorge Soler’s home run against David Peterson in the second inning stood as the game’s only run until Jazz Chisholm Jr. went deep in the eighth against John Curtiss, in his Mets debut. After

Alonso homered in the ninth against his former Florida teammate Puk, the left-hander got the final two outs.

Daniel Vogelbach’s pinch-hit bloop double in the eighth gave the Mets hope of tying the game, but Marte was retired for the third out on a sinking line drive to right field snared by a diving Soler.

The Mets loaded the bases in the sixth with a two-out rally that included

two walks and a single against Luzardo, but right-hander JT Chargois entered to retire Alonso on a fly ball that exited the bat at 102 mph to keep the Marlins’ lead at 1-0.

“It’s tough — I thought I put together an excellent at-bat,” Alonso said. “I capitalized on a pitch, and that is baseball.” The Mets got what they needed from Peterson, who allowed one earned run on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts over five innings. It was a continuation of the left-hander’s strong work against the Marlins — he entered 2-1 lifetime with a 2.74 ERA against them.

“I liked the fact he only had one walk, that is probably why he was able to survive,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Maybe he knew what he had and that is something, if he stays in the strike zone he has good enough stuff to compete up here every time out.” A quick reaction by Jeff McNeil helped the Mets save a run in the fifth. Garrett Cooper hit a slow grounder off Alonso’s glove that was directed toward a sliding McNeil, who fielded the ball and threw out Jon Berti at the plate. Berti had singled leading off the inning and Luis Arraez’s ensuing bunt single put runners on first and second.

Francisco Lindor had the Mets’ other impressive defensive play of the night, leaping to snare Soler’s line drive for the final out of the third inning with Cooper at first base.

“The defense was outstanding,” Peterson said. “It’s nice to pitch that when balls are hit and guys are there they are going to make the plays and they did a hell of a job. I felt it just came down to being able to use all my pitches at certain points. I was able to throw everything out when I needed to and get out of some of those things. It was just really mixing it up and using all my weapons.”

Cooper received a gift triple in the first inning when his fly to right field skimmed Marte’s glove, but Peterson’s slick fielding on Chisholm’s comebacker got the final out.

The game lasted only 2 hours, 9 minutes — possibly the new norm for low-scoring games.

“It was really good pitching and with really good pitching it’s going to be a quick game,” Alonso said. “When there is a ton of offense it’s going to be a long game. That is pretty standard.”