The New York Mets were defeated by the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Friday night at PNC Park.

Pitching

Jason Vargas was helped out by a beautiful barehanded play from Amed Rosario and struck out Gregory Polanco in a 1-2-3 opening inning.

After Elias Diaz singled leading off the second, David Freese lined a two run shot to left, cutting the lead to 3-2. Vargas was able to bounce back, and strike out Jordy Mercer to end the inning.

A beautiful diving catch from Brandon Nimmo in right-center helped Vargas en route to a 1-2-3 third inning.

The Pirates threatened in the fourth as they loaded the bases with two outs. Diaz singled, Freese walked, and after an Adam Frazier fly out Sean Rodriguez drew a four pitch walk. Vargas settled down and was able to get Mercer to fly out and strand the bases loaded.

Vargas returned to the mound in the fifth and retired Ivan Nova, but was pulled after issuing a one out walk to Jordan Luplow. Vargas allowed two runs on three hits over 4.1 innings in his return from the disabled list.

Seth Lugo entered with one on and one out, and after Josh Harrison flew out, Polanco reached on an infield single and Luplow drew a walk to load the bases. Freese then rolled a two out, two run single up the middle to give the pirates a 4-3 lead.

Tyler Bashlor worked his way into and out of trouble in the bottom of the sixth. A Colin Moran single, sandwiched between two walks, loaded the bases with one out. However, Bashlor needed just one pitch to get Harrison to roll into a 4-4-3 double play.

Bashlor worked around a two out walk in his second scoreless inning of work. Jacob Rhame started the eighth, and allowed a one out Mercer single before being pulled.

Jerry Blevins painted the inside corner to strike out Moran for the second out. Anthony Swarzak then entered and struck out Luplow to get out of the eighth.

Tim Peterson gave up back-to-back singles to Harrison and Polanco, putting runners on the corners, the Mets then walked Diaz to load the bases with no outs. Freese then drove a first pitch walk-off single to right to end the game.

Hitting

The Mets got off to a fast start in the top of the first. Brandon Nimmo drew a one out walk followed by a Wilmer Flores double to right. Michael Conforto then poked a three run home run over the right field fence, giving the Mets the early 3-0 lead.

Nimmo lined a one out double the other way in the third, but he was stranded there as Flores popped out and Conforto struck out.

Kevin Plawecki and Nimmo lined two out singles in the fourth and fifth respectively, but neither advanced.

Conforto and Bautista drew back-to-back walks leading off the sixth. Jeff McNeil then dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but reached on an error to load the bases with still no outs. After Plawecki struck out, Jose Reyes flew out but Conforto came home to tie the game on a throwing error.

Conforto picked up his second hit of the night, a leadoff single in the eighth. Two batters later, Plawecki was hit by a pitch to put runners on first an second with two outs, but Reyes grounded out to first to end the inning.

On Deck

Jacob deGrom take the mound against Trevor Williams and the Pirates in the third game of this four game set at 7:10 p.m. at PNC Park, the game can be seen on WPIX.