Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez flips his batting helmet in disgust after striking out in the fourth inning last night.

AP / Julie Jacobson

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Suddenly, the Red Sox bats have cooled.

The Sox lost to the New York Mets last night, 4-1, with Boston collecting just five hits. In the last three games, the Sox have scored a total of three runs and had just 15 hits after scoring 28 runs in the previous four games.

Mets starter Oliver Perez dominated the Sox over the first five innings, striking out nine.

“He might have the best stuff of any lefty in Major League Baseball,” said Red Sox starter Josh Beckett.

Beckett pitched well himself, allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out six.

Some sloppy play cost the Sox two runs in the second.

After center fielder David Murphy lost a ball from Shawn Green in the lights — it dropped two feet in front of him — he threw the ball back into the infield. Green took a big turn at first and Alex Cora threw over to try to catch him. But Cora’s throw sailed over the head of David Ortiz, allowing Green to move to third.

Following a run-scoring single from Jose Valentin, the Sox had David Newhan in a rundown but Cora dropped the ball as Valentin scored from third and Newhan took second.

Beckett was touched for a solo homer by Green in the fourth. Ramon Castro added a solo homer off Craig Hansen in the eighth.

Much ado about nothing?

A San Francisco Giants’ source confirmed that the Red Sox haven’t inquired about reliever Armando Benitez.

Newspaper reports in the Bay Area earlier this week suggested the Sox were heavily scouting Benitez in Arizona, which GM Theo Epstein denied on Wednesday.

The source said the only team to show interest to date is the Florida Marlins, for whom Benitez previously pitched. Benitez is due $7.5 million this season, though the Giants are said to be willing to take back some of that salary.

Because he said so

Beckett was under strict orders not to take the bat off his shoulder last night. Daisuke Matsuzaka will be under the same restriction today.

The Sox had asked both the Mets (last night) and Dodgers (today) for permission to use the DH, but were denied, so the club was forced to play under National League rules.

“These guys haven’t swung the bat in about eight months,” said manager Terry Francona. “If we’re being overprotective, good. It’s bad enough to have them swing in interleague games. But if someone hyper-extends an elbow or pulls an (oblique), it’s just not good.”

Francona was asked, hypothetically, what he would do if the bases were loaded with the pitcher at the plate.

“If I’m on the verge of getting fired in spring training,” he said, “they’re still not swinging.”

Here and there

Jon Lester will pitch for Pawtucket today against Rochester, the Minnesota Twins’ Triple A affiliate.

Tim Wakefield, who has been piggy-backed with Jonathan Papelbon for the first few times through the rotation, will pitch for the Sox’ Single A Lancaster affiliate tomorrow. Papelbon, meanwhile, will start the major league game against Cincinnati.

Finally, Curt Schilling will pitch for Pawtucket Sunday against Louisville in a minor league game. Schilling wants to avoid pitching twice against the Orioles — whom the Sox play Sunday — in the span of five days.

Around the horn

A group of nine players – Joe McEwing, Alex Cora, Jeff Bailey, Bobby Scales, Ed Rogers, Alex Ochoa, David Murphy, Brandon Moss and Alberto Castillo —stayed over the East Coast of Florida last night and will be in Vero Beach today when the Sox meet the Dodgers. The rest of the players who bused over — the trip took nearly four hours — returned last night, with a fresh set of players flying from Fort Myers to Vero Beach this morning … A moment of silence was held prior to the start of last night’s game for former commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who died yesterday at the age of 80 … Pedro Martinez, who underwent rotator cuff surgery last October, long-tossed here yesterday morning but was gone from camp by the time the Sox arrived here yesterday afternoon. Catcher Doug Mirabelli gunned down Mets speedster Jose Reyes attempting to steal second with one out in the fifth. Reyes has 124 steals over the last two seasons.

smcadam@projo.com