Juan Soto leaves early in Mets’ loss to Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers

A Friday night showcase for two of baseball’s biggest stars came to an early end for Juan Soto, who exited in the sixth inning due to soreness in his ailing left calf.

Shohei Ohtani then took advantage of the spotlight, driving in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-2 win over the Mets at Citi Field.

Serving as the Mets’ designated hitter, Soto walked in both of his plate appearances against Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki before Jorge Polanco pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the sixth.

Soto has been dealing with calf discomfort since July 16, when he left in the eighth inning of a Mets win in Philadelphia in the first game after the All-Star break.

The Mets downplayed the severity at the time, and Soto has continued to play in the days since, mostly as the DH.

Soto sat out of Wednesday’s loss in Milwaukee, with Mets interim manager Andy Green rationalizing that day that the slugger would get 48 hours of rest due to Thursday’s off-day.

But Soto couldn’t make it through Friday’s game.

The Mets’ lone All-Star, Soto is hitting .283 with 21 home runs and a .947 OPS.

This the second calf issue of the season for Soto, who spent 2 ½ weeks on the injured list in April due to a mild strain in his right leg.

The Dodgers ($419.8 million) and Mets ($373.7 million) boast MLB’s two highest compete-balance-tax payrolls, per Cot’s Contracts, but their seasons could not be going more differently.

Los Angeles (66-38) owns MLB’s best record and seeks its third consecutive World Series championship. The Mets (43-61), doomed by injury and underperformance all season, are now 0-4 this year against the Dodgers, who swept them in LA in April.

Friday night’s game was tied, 1-1, when Soto exited, but the Dodgers broke it open in the later innings.

With runners at the corners and no outs in the top of the seventh, Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing laid down a safety-squeeze bunt against Mets reliever Brooks Raley.

The Mets caught Kyle Tucker in a rundown as he attempted to score from third base, but they took too much time before tagging him out, allowing the Dodgers’ other two baserunners to move into scoring position.

Rather than walking the lefty-swinging Ohtani, the Mets opted to pitch to the four-time MVP with the left-handed Raley while righty-hitting Andy Pages stood on deck.

Ohtani delivered with a deep sacrifice fly, putting the Dodgers up, 2-1.

The Dodgers tacked on insurance runs in the top of the eighth when Tucker slugged a two-run home run against A.J. Minter.

It was the eighth home run of the season for Tucker, a four-time All-Star who has disappointed in the first season of a historic four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers.

The Mets pursued Tucker heavily before losing the bidding war to the Dodgers and pivoting to sign Bo Bichette.

Tucker’s 386-foot drive proved to be the dagger on a night the Mets offense mustered only one run on three hits against the flamethrowing Sasaki, who struck out nine over seven innings.

It’s been an impressive week for the 23-year-old Sasaki, who limited the Yankees to one unearned run in 5.2 innings with five strikeouts in the Bronx last Friday.

The Mets’ late-inning woes spoiled a season-best start from Sean Manaea, who held the mighty Dodgers to one run over six innings.

And while it was a rough evening for Raley and Minter — two impending free agents whom the Mets are likely to trade before the Aug. 3 deadline — Friday’s game served as a better audition for two of the Mets’ other top trade chips.

Luis Robert Jr. drilled a 381-foot solo home run on a 99-mph fastball from Sasaki in the second inning, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.

It was Robert’s second home run in the four games since he returned from a lumbar spine disc herniation that sidelined for nearly three months.

Francisco Alvarez, meanwhile, clubbed a 401-foot solo home run — his 12th homer of the season — in the eighth inning against reliever Evan Phillips.

Saturday afternoon’s game features a marquee pitching matchup, with Nolan McLean (7-6, 3.34 ERA) set to start for the Mets and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (10-6, 2.78 ERA) lined up for Los Angeles.