Bats off to historically anemic start

How soon is it no longer early in a 60-game sprint?

The Mets offense is still waiting to find out.

The bats were slow to get going in their season-opening series against the Braves, which ended Sunday night with a brutal 14-1 loss.

Over the three games, the Mets pushed across only five runs — their fewest through three games since 1981 — on 21 hits. They stranded 24 runners, 10 of which came Sunday night when they couldn’t capitalize on early traffic.

“I don’t think there’s much pressure to it,” said J.D. Davis, who went 1-for-4. “It’s the first three games. I don’t think we’re going to be playing like this much longer. I think we’re going to come out of our shell here soon and have an offensive day just like the Braves did today.”

Manager Luis Rojas had preached confidence before the game about the offense starting to come around as he wrote out his third different lineup in three games. But he said afterward the Mets needed to put together better at-bats.

“We talked in the dugout about starting to put quality at-bats together — that’s one of the things we gotta start doing,” Rojas said. “We’re chasing. That’s leading to not impacting the ball hard consistently and not getting the benefit of the byproduct, which is walking.

“We had a few guys that swung the bat well tonight, but for the most part, I saw guys chasing and late on fastballs.”

➤ Eduardo Nunez, who entered the game at right field in the top of the eighth, left the game in the bottom of the inning after injuring himself legging out an infield single. He landed awkwardly around first base and felt that he hyperextended his left knee, Rojas said.

Nunez, who has a history of knee issues, wanted to stay in the game but was replaced by pinch-runner Jake Marisnick.

➤ Rojas again declined to name a starter for Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox, though it won’t be Corey Oswalt after he was forced to throw four innings of mop-up duty Sunday and was optioned to the alternate site after the game. David Peterson or Erasmo Ramirez are candidates to be called up from the alternate site.