BOSTON — A road trip to Detroit and New York was supposed to give the Red Sox a chance to get back on track, but instead Boston’s hopes of winning the postseason have gone down the drain.

Boston entered the road trip with a 69-65 season record, having lost five of seven games at Fenway Park, and another loss in continued play against the Blue Jays. The Sox had an excellent 38-27 road record before the trip, so there was hope they could turn things around against two teams outside the playoff spots.

But after winning Game 1 in Detroit, Boston ended the trip with five straight losses, culminating in an 8-3 loss to the Mets on Wednesday night when the Red Sox batting and bullpen once again failed spectacularly.

Boston was just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the finale against the Mets. The Red Sox left six runners on base and forced three double plays. Rafael Devers scored a run on a sacrifice fly but was 0-for-3. Boston’s best hitter — who has been dealing with shoulder problems — was 1-for-24 in the six games with seven strikeouts and no walks.

Devers wasn’t the only one who had problems hitting. Boston only managed a batting average of .203 (39 of 192) on the trip, threw 55 strikeouts and managed just 14 walks. The Red Sox achieved a meager batting average of .188 (6 of 32) with runners in scoring position, leaving 32 runners on base in Detroit and New York.

The Red Sox Despite it had a chance to win on Wednesday night despite these offensive problems and despite starter Tanner Houck’s grand slam in the first inning. An RBI ground rule double by Jarren Duran, followed by two sacrifice flies, brought the game to 4-3 in the third inning. It remained that way until the Boston bullpen produced a disastrous result in the eighth inning.

Kenley Jansen managed just one out in the eighth inning, allowing a single and three walks. He drove in a run to make the game 5-3 for the Mets before Alex Cora took him out, but Rich Hill didn’t fare much better. He threw four balls in a row and scored another run, and then another walk. He allowed a sacrifice fly before Cora called it a night, and Hill left the mound with the Mets leading, 8-3.

The Red Sox have now lost five games in a row, their longest losing streak of the season, and are back at .500 at 70-70. It’s the first time since June 14 that their win total has equaled their losses.

The whole trip was a huge missed opportunity for Boston, as both the Royals and Twins lost seven of their last 10 games. The Red Sox are now 5.5 games behind both teams in the battle for the final AL Wild Card spot, and both the Tigers and Mariners (who are also 70-70) have now joined Boston in that contender spot in the standings.

Cora didn’t have much to say after Wednesday night’s loss, just that his team needs to be better.

“We’re playing .500 baseball. I don’t think that’s good enough. We have to be better,” Cora said after the loss. “The Royals, Twins and everyone else – it doesn’t matter. We’re playing .500 baseball.”

But the thing is, the Red Sox are not They are playing with a baseball average of .500. Since the All-Star break, they are 17-27. They have lost 11 of their last 14 games, including a come-from-behind loss to the Jays.

According to FanGraphs, the Red Sox now have only an 8.1 percent chance of making the postseason.

Hope is fading, even if Boston is on track to make it six straight home wins. The Red Sox have three games against the 109-loss White Sox before playing three against the now-first-place Orioles. They need to win at least five of those games to have any hope of getting back in the race.

But given a 31-38 home record this season, that seems like wishful thinking. With less than a month left until the end of the season, it’s becoming more of a reality that the Red Sox will miss the playoffs for the third straight year.