Dillon Gee had a subpar outing, and the combination of poor defensive play by Daniel Murphy & Lucas Duda led to the Mets receiving their first loss of the season, a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Washington Nationals.

Game Recap

Dillon Gee started the game on a bad note, giving up a lead-off home run to Ian Desmond. Gee was hit hard all day and obviously didn’t have his best control, but getting out of trouble until the sixth inning with timely double plays. Gee left after five and one-third innings, giving up 4 runs, 3 earned on eight hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Gee suffered the same fate as Mike Pelfrey – giving up hard hit after hard hit and finally paying for it in the sixth.

After Gee allowed three hits in the sixth inning that scored one run, Bobby Parnell was brought in to stop the bleeding and would have gotten out of the inning with the double-play he needed if not for a tailor-made double-play ball being booted by Daniel Murphy. Parnell then gave up a double, and struck out the last two batters. Parnell came out for the seventh, gave up a walk, a double and a single, and then struck out the last two batters again. Parnell’s final line doesn’t look horrible, but is a far cry from his first two outings. Parnell went one and two-thirds, giving up one run on three hits, walking one and striking out four. Miguel Batista faired slightly better, giving up a sac-fly but exhibiting poor control. Batista’s final line was two innings, one run allowed on two hits with two walks and one strikeout.

The bullpen finally showed some signs of cracking, but this game could have gone in a different direction if not for the Murphy error. Lucas Duda also horribly misplayed a ball that lead to a Wilson Ramos RBI double, but was not charged an error.

The offense, without Ike Davis, Josh Thole and David Wright struggled to manufacture runs, missing a chance in the first inning to bring Ruben Tejada, who was on third home with no outs. The only two Mets runs came on a Justin Turner RBI single in the seventh and a Ronny Cedeno RBI double in the eighth. The futility with runners in scoring position continued, with the Mets stranding 15 baserunners.

Daniel Murphy – 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and the aforementioned error

Ike Davis – 0 for 1 with a strikeout. Ike is 0 for 16 with seven strikeouts.

Jason Bay – 1 for 4 with a run scored and two strikeouts. Bay popped out to third with one out in the first, stopping a rally cold.

Ronny Cedeno – 3 for 4 with one RBI. The lone bright-spot in the Mets lineup.

GOAT Of The Game

Daniel Murphy’s crucial error in the sixth inning was a sure-fire double play and could have gotten the Mets out of the inning down only two. Instead, it opened the flood gates and allowed two more runs to score. The Mets aren’t expecting Murphy to win a gold glove, but turning a routine double-play ball is a MUST.

Game Notes

David Wright, who missed the game originally with a sore pinky finger, was diagnose with a small fracture in that same finger. As with all Mets injuries, his timetable is unknown.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis came out to pinch hit, and went 0-1 with a walk. Kirk hasn’t done anything to hurt his chances of staying with the club, and if Bay continues to struggle, seeing a platoon upon Torres return seems fair.

Up Next

The Mets will look to win the series tomorrow in the deciding game, sending Johan Santana to the hill against Stephen Strasburg. Game time is 1:10 P.M. and the game can be viewed on SNY

For other thoughts on the game or anything Mets related, follow me on twitter @TheSeanKenny