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The buzzing Citi Field crowd — which included Darryl Strawberry parked behind home plate — arrived hoping to witness history.

By the end, they would have settled for a pulse from the Mets offense.

With four plate appearances, Pete Alonso could not find the stroke to match Strawberry at 252 home runs as a Met.

And these days, when Alonso is not powering the attack, too often the attack is lacking power.

The Mets did not score a run after the second inning and did not record a hit after the fourth in what became a 3-2 loss to the Guardians in front of 39,895 in Queens on Tuesday.

“Things are not as bleak as they seem,” Brandon Nimmo said after the Mets (63-51) dropped a seventh of eight and lost another series before Wednesday’s matinee arrives. “You’re really, really close. You’re one hit away usually.”

They were one hit away Tuesday. One hit away in Monday’s backbreaking extra-inning loss. They lost another 10-inning battle to the Giants on Friday, and their latest skid began with a walk-off heartbreaker in San Diego.

Nimmo’s point — that a few bounces finding holes could change the team’s complexion — is understood.

But they will have to find those right bounces at some point.

For the 2025 second-half Mets, these are the games they are supposed to win.

They received competence if not length from their starting pitcher (Clay Holmes). Their super bullpen allowed little (just a cheap run scored off Tyler Rogers). They held Cleveland to six hits and three runs.

But a potent offense, which finished with just four hits and went silent, is not following the blueprint and especially struggling against lefties.

They managed two runs against Cleveland southpaw Logan Allen in the first two innings — and even the successes came with a dose of frustration.

They scored once in the first, when Francisco Lindor manufactured his way to third and scored on Alonso’s sacrifice fly.

But with Juan Soto on second base, a suddenly frigid Nimmo struck out on a night the Mets went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

They scored again in the second, when Tyrone Taylor came through with a single that knocked in Mark Vientos.

But the Mets then loaded the bases with one out for Lindor, who smoked a ground ball up the middle that was unfortunately aimed, going for a double play.

“It seems like, after we didn’t capitalize in that second inning,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, “after that, other than a [fifth-inning] Soto walk, we didn’t create anything.”

Their lead was gone by the fourth inning, when Holmes bent, and the game was tied until the seventh, when Rogers became the hard-luck loser.

The submariner, who specializes in weak contact headed south, got into trouble because that weak contact found holes.

With two outs in the frame, C.J. Kayfus hit a chopper through the left side for a single.

Brayan Rocchio stuck out his bat and lofted a single to left.

Steven Kwan then hit a bleeder up the middle that bounced three times before splitting Lindor and Jeff McNeil for the go-ahead run.

There have been many instances this season when the Mets could not come through in the clutch. In the later innings Tuesday, they could not come through in any situation.

The last 14 Mets who stepped to the plate were retired.

“We’d love to be putting more consistent runs up there, but we’ve been able to fight in most of the games and give ourselves opportunities,” Nimmo said after the Mets were held to four hits or fewer for the 12th time this season — and the third time in their past seven games. “Eventually you’d like to see those opportunities coming through.

“Even [Monday’s] game, to get back in that and make it a game and give ourselves a chance to win and be right very, very close there at the end.”

An offensive group that projects as a strength and is paid to be a strength has been roughly league average (and worse against lefties).

Alonso — who went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly — will have another chance at history tomorrow. And the Mets will have another chance to figure out what is ailing the group.

“Eventually it’s going to turn,” Mendoza said. “But as a whole, we’re having a hard time putting a rally together and being consistent against lefties.”