NEW YORK -- The bottom line is this: The Red Sox haven’t been able to get clutch hits lately and Wednesday night was no different in an 8-3 loss to the Mets at Citi Field that sealed a series sweep.

Boston has lost five consecutive games -- its longest losing streak this season -- and finds itself 5 1/2 games behind the Royals and Twins for the third and final Wild Card berth in the American League. Even worse, the Red Sox are back at the .500 mark with a 70-70 record.

After a 1-5 road trip, manager Alex Cora is hoping that his team can get back to its winning ways at Fenway Park starting Friday against the White Sox. With less than a month to go, time is running out for Boston.

“We are playing .500 baseball. I don’t think that’s good enough. We have to be better,” Cora said. “The Royals, Twins and everybody else -- it doesn’t matter. We are playing .500 baseball. It’s not too much [to overcome.]”

The reason Boston has fallen back to .500 is because the offense has been sputtering of late. Entering Wednesday, the Red Sox had a .226/.285/.371 slash line in their prior 26 games. They had hit 29 home runs and scored 101 runs (99 RBIs) during that span.

Cora made a minor lineup change by returning Jarren Duran to the leadoff spot followed by Rafael Devers in hopes that Devers would see more fastballs. But Devers went hitless in three at-bats, while the Red Sox went 1-for 5 with runners in scoring position.

The Red Sox fell into a hole in the first inning when Jesse Winker hit a grand slam off Tanner Houck to give New York a four-run cushion.

“It was a splitter away, maybe a little up, but it was off the plate,” Houck said. “It was a pitch that you usually get a ground-ball result. Winker was able to put a good swing on it. Ultimately, if I get the ball down a little bit more, I would be a little more happy with it.”

However, Houck settled down by retiring the next 13 hitters he faced.

“I felt like I got back in the zone [after the grand slam], going after hitters with my best stuff,” Houck said. “The first inning kind of got away in terms of falling behind hitters. Even later in the game, I was falling behind early -- a lot of 1-0, 2-0 counts, but was able to battle back.”

It looked like Houck could possibly end up with a no-decision. Boston made it close by scoring three runs in the third inning. Duran highlighted the scoring with an RBI double off Mets right-hander Tylor Megill.

The Red Sox had chances to score the tying run multiple times after the three-run third. They had runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth, and eighth innings, but couldn’t score that tying run. The Sox grounded into inning-ending double plays in the fifth, sixth and seventh.

“It feels like we are missing that one big hit every game,” catcher Connor Wong said. “Once we get that thing rolling, this offense is pretty good.”

The Mets put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth by scoring four runs off closer Kenley Jansen, who is not giving up on the season.

“We just have to fight. It’s not over until it’s over,” Jansen said. “We have three games against the White Sox and we have to start from there.”