The Mets (31-25) were defeated by the Pittsburgh Pirates (31-26) in the first game of a doubleheader by a score of 3-1 this afternoon at PNC Park.
Pitching:
Long Island native Steven Matz toed the rubber for the Mets this afternoon, and though the young lefty labored through a lot of pitches and visibly did not have his best stuff, still managed to hold the Bucs to just two runs over five innings.
Matz final line has him going the five, allowing two runs on eight hits while striking out eight.
Antonio Bastardo relieved Matz in the sixth, and quickly served up a home run to Jordy Mercer, to give Pittsburgh a then 3-0 lead.
Logan Verrett then came on and stymied the Pirates over two innings of work.
Offense:
The Mets squared off against their old buddy Jon Niese today, and the lefty brought his A-game, firing seven scoreless innings, scattering four hits and inducing 14 ground ball outs.
The only real threat posed against Niese came in the fourth inning, when the Mets loaded the bases, but failed to come away with any runs as Michael Conforto struck out.
With only 91 pitches, Niese was removed from the game in favor of Neftali Feliz, who was greeted abruptly by Curtis Granderson who took the veteran righty deep to get the Mets on the board. 3-1 Bucs.
Mark Melancon came on in the ninth and sealed the victory for Pittsburgh.
On deck:
Stay tuned for the second game of the doubleheader, which will be starting shortly on SNY. Jacob deGrom (3-1, 2.62 ERA) will get the ball for the Mets, and will be opposed by Juan Nicasio (4-4, 4.75 ERA).
