Justin Verlander is used to being hated in New York, but this was different.
The right-hander finally made his Mets debut at Citi Field on Tuesday night and like much of the team has so far this season, he flopped.
The $86 million man was booed off the mound after the top of the fifth and he had plenty of company with the Mets trailing 6-0.
Coming off an ugly stretch against four sub-.500 teams, the Mets came home to Queens to face the Rays, owners of the best record in baseball.
The results were, again, not pretty.
And Verlander was largely responsible, as was the team’s anemic lineup.
He was booed after giving up a two-run homer to Isaac Paredes in the top of the fifth, the second time Paredes had taken Verlander deep on the night.
In his third outing since recovering from a teres major strain, Verlander also allowed a two-out, three-run homer to Paredes in the third and another run in the fourth.
With the Mets offense nowhere to be found of late, they had little chance of coming back.
Verlander had been one of the few bright spots since joining the rotation after spending the first month of the season on the IL. In his first two outings as a Met, the right-hander allowed just three runs in 12 innings.
He pitched into and out of trouble in the first two innings, allowing a pair of baserunners in each inning.
The Rays threatened again in the third with a leadoff infield hit by Harold Ramirez followed by a walk to Wander Franco.
Brandon Lowe whiffed for the first out and Arozarena popped out, but Verlander couldn’t get out of this one, as Paredes blasted a three-run homer to left.
Things got worse for Verlander and the Mets in the fourth with a one-out double by Christian Bethancourt that led to a two-out run-scoring single by Ramirez that made it 4-0.
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