Pete Alonso
Jeff Curry | USA TODAY Sports

The Mets continue to lead the entire planet in hit-batsmen — Padres righty Yu Darvish hit them three times in the first two innings of Tuesday’s game.

The second of the three could’ve have been disastrous. Pete Alonso was plunked in the right hand while he was in the midst of his swing. The star first baseman and MLB RBI leader immediately left the game.

X-rays came back negative. But it sounds like Alonso isn’t out of the woods yet. In other health-related news, Starling Marte exited Tuesday’s game after suffering an apparent injury while sliding into second base during the first inning. He is dealing with left quad tightness and will receive imaging.

Manager Buck Showalter seems to think both may be out for a while.

I love your optimism, but I don’t share it at this point,” Showalter said, according to The Post, when asked if he would imagine Alonso and Marte back within days in a best-case scenario.

J.D. Davis stepped in at first base in place of Alonso.

Although Alonso was swinging, the umpires ruled he was hit, even after a review. Alonso has now been hit seven times this year, including twice in the face.

Overall, this is becoming ridiculous. Opposing pitchers have hit the Mets 40 times in 2022 and the issue doesn’t seem to be nearing its resolution. Is it the Mets’ team-to-beat reputation coming back to haunt them? Is it just pure bad luck?

Don’t bring up Spider Tack and how the pitchers have lost control. The whole “scandal” involving foreign substances and the subsequent crackdown took place over a year ago. These are professional baseball pitchers we’re talking about — they’re more than capable of adapting and evolving to the changing game. And they’ve had 12 months — including a long offseason that encompassed a lockout — to fix any sort of control-related issue that arose from the lack of a foreign substance.

Go with any other argument you want for why the Mets are constantly on the victim’s end of this persistent problem. But don’t talk to me about Spider Tack — I won’t have it.

Mark Canha replaced Marte in right field.

Ryan Honey is a staff writer and host of the Wide Right Podcast.