Red Sox pitcher Zack Kelly is pulled during the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night in Boston. Charles Krupa/Associated Press

BOSTON — Monday’s series opener saw the Red Sox put together one of their best offensive innings of the season to flip a game on its head. Tuesday brought just about the polar opposite.

Putrid infield defense from the Red Sox opened the door wide open for the Mariners to score five runs in a brutal fifth inning and Seattle went on to win, relatively easily, 10-6, hours after the MLB trade deadline passed.

Three Red Sox errors helped James Paxton take a loss in his return to the Red Sox rotation as Boston, which has gone 3-8 since the All-Star break, fell to 56-50.

The Red Sox are in jeopardy of losing their fourth consecutive series with a defeat in Wednesday’s rubber game.

The Red Sox took a 3-2 lead into the fifth inning but quickly gave it away behind a laboring Paxton. After Mitch Haniger opened the inning with a single, Dom Smith spiked a throw to Paxton covering first on a Leo Rivas bunt attempt and was charged with an error.

Next up was a miscue by Rafael Devers, who fielded a Victor Robles ground ball and instead of trying to throw to second or first, tried to pick Haniger off third — unsuccessfully. Ceddanne Rafaela then bobbled a potential double play ball, allowing all runners to end up safe — and the tying run to score.

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With one out, Paxton departed and in came righty Zack Kelly, whose July struggles continued. Justin Turner drove in a run on a ground ball to give the Mariners a 4-3 lead. Then after a walk, Dylan Moore broke it open with a bases-clearing, three-run double off the Green Monster to put Seattle up four.

Paxton, who was re-acquired Friday from Los Angeles, was tagged with six runs in 4 ⅓ innings but only two were earned. He struck out five and allowed six hits.

Before the third, the Red Sox jumped to an early lead. Two innings after a Turner RBI single in the first inning of his Mariners debut opened the scoring, Devers answered with an opposite field, three-run shot off Luis Castillo to put the Sox up. Jorge Polanco’s solo homer off Paxton in the fourth made it 3-2.

The Sox’s issues containing Seattle’s offense continued into the sixth behind righty Yohan Ramírez, making his team debut. Victor Robles and Randy Arozarena each singled before Polanco laced a two-out RBI double. Cal Raleigh scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-3. Then, on a double steal attempt, the Sox’s third error of the evening sealed a big defeat when Connor Wong overthrew second base and allowed Polanco to score.

Castillo limited the Red Sox to six hits over six strong innings before the Sox closed the gap against Seattle’s bullpen in the seventh. Devers’ third hit of the night — an RBI single off Tayler Saucedo — made it 10-4. Facing Collin Snider, Tyler O’Neill laced a rocket single to cut it to five. Smith, who hit the ball hard all night, put things within reach with an opposite-field double off the Monster. But that’s as close as the Red Sox got.

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