The New York Mets opened the second half of the season in Pittsburgh with a dud. After not scoring in the final eight innings on Sunday against the same Pirates, the Mets scored only one lone run on Friday and fell to the Bucs, 4-1.

The Mets had their chances throughout the lackluster performance, as they had Pirates starter Chad Kuhl on the ropes in several innings but could not get the big hit when needed. New York went 0-for-12 with RISP.

Pittsburgh took the lead in the second inning on a two-RBI single by Adam Frazier off of Mets starter Marcus Stroman. Stroman would only give up those two runs in the game but took the loss to fall to 6-8.

The Mets had chance after chance and finally broke through in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Jonathan Villar. The Bucs led at this point 2-1.

The fifth was eventful to say the least, but mainly with extra-curricular activity. Stroman hit Reynolds by a pitch to put a runner on. Ben Gamel singled on a bunt to Stroman, but was then thrown out at second after a throwing error by Stroman. John Nogowski lined out to end the inning, but then tensions rose as the teams were exiting the field.

Nogowski and Stroman appeared to have words for each other, which led to benches clearing. The bullpens also emptied. The exchange lasted a couple minutes before things cleared up and play resumed. Stroman was seen running down into the dugout prior to the tussle ending, and play resumed in the sixth with the Pirates up 2-1.

The Pirates went to their bullpen in the sixth; Chasen Shreve replaced Chad Kuhl. He didn’t last long. He gave up a lead-off double to Pete Alonso and a one-out walk to Michael Conforto two batters later. After a mound visit, Shreve struck out Villar for the second out.

That ended his outing as Chris Stratton replaced Shreve on the mound for the Pirates in the sixth inning with two outs.

Stratton came in and retired James McCann to end the inning.

The Mets followed suit in the bottom of the sixth. They called on Drew Smith to replace Stroman on the mound for the Mets in the bottom of the sixth.

Stroman’s final line: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 2.79 ERA

Smith’s day did not start well. He gave up a lead-off home run to Wilmer Difo that extended the Pirates’ lead over the Mets to 3-1. Stallings then singled off of Smith before he popped out Newman to get the first out of the inning

Smith then settled in, retiring Rodolfo Castro (pinch-hitter for Stratton) and Frazier to end the inning.

The Pirates went to their bullpen again in the seventh. Austin Davis replaced Stratton on the mound for the Pirates in the seventh. He retired the Mets in order.

The Mets went to their bullpen as well in the seventh. Jeurys Familia replaced Smith.

Smith’s final line: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 3.16 ERA

Familia struck out Hayes to open the inning, but then gave up a home run to center to Bryan Reynolds that extended the Pirates lead over the Mets to 4-1. Familia then struck out Gamel and retired Nogowski to get out of the inning.

David Bednar replaced Davis on the mound for the Pirates in the eighth with the Mets coming to bat in a situation in which they needed to put runners on try to score some runs.

Miguel Castro replaced Familia on the mound in the eighth for the Mets as they went to their bullpen in the bottom half of the inning.

Familia’s final line: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 3.95 ERA

Castro was strong in his relief outing on Friday night. He gave up a one-out walk to Stallings after lining out Difo, but retired Newman (strikeout) and Oliva to end the inning.

The Mets came to bat in the top of the ninth needing to score three runs to tie the game and four to win.

Richard Rodriguez replaced Bednar on the mound for the Pirates in the ninth and closed it out and get the win for Pittsburgh.

Stroman (6-8) was credited with the loss, Kuhl (3-5) was credited with the win, and Rodriguez was credited with his thirteenth save of the season.

The Mets and Pirates will continue their series Saturday at 7:05 PM.