Injuries, weather, phantom hitting coaches, the Mets have fought through it all. Yet, they end the first half atop the National League East.
Still, New York lost to the Pirates 6-5 on Sunday. A first-inning offensive barrage by the Mets wouldn’t be enough. The offense that’s struggled mightily turned face the last week but lagged through the final eight innings. The bullpen that’s been excellent couldn’t hold on.
The Mets went to the bullpen immediately as lefty Aaron Loup served as an opener. He pitched two scoreless innings with strikeouts of Pirates All-Stars Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman.
Pittsburgh tossed out Chase De Jong. Entering the day he had a 5.59 ERA in eight starts. The Mets scored five runs in the first inning.
Sparkplug Brandon Nimmo led off with a double to right field. Batting from the left side, Francisco Lindor sent De Jong’s fastball 418 feet over the fence in right center. Dominic Smith and Jeff McNeil walked to put two more runners on. Michael Conforto, batting sixth, hit his first home run since May 1 to give New York the 5-0 lead.
Jerad Eickhoff entered in the third. The right-hander ended up back in New York after being designated for assignment on June 29. He spent eight days in Syracuse before being recalled for Sunday’s outing.
Eickhoff pitched 2.2 innings allowing six hits and two runs off back-to-back solo shots in the fifth inning by Rodolfo Castro and Michael Perez. Eickhoff was pulled for Jeurys Familia with two on two out and Reynolds up to bat.
Reynolds lined out to end the inning. Meanwhile, every Met outside of Lindor was no-hit by De Jong over the last four innings.
Familia remained in for the sixth. His first two batters grounded out and flew out. His third batter, Wilder Difo, walked. His fourth batter, Castro, homered for the second time Sunday and third time this series.
The Mets couldn’t muster anything offensively in the sixth and seventh. Miguel Castro pitched the seventh. He allowed one hit to Frazier.
Castro remained for the eighth inning. Josh Nogowski grounded out but a walk by Ben Gamel and a single from Wilmer Difo put runners on first and third with one out. Edwin Diaz entered for the five-out save. His first batter was Rodolfo Castro.
Diaz went down 3-0 to Castro. He worked the count back to 3-2 but walked Castro on a slider inside. Diaz struck out Perez for the second out. Ke’Bryan Hayes stepped up to pinch-hit. With the bases loaded, Diaz threw two balls to open the at-bat. Diaz got Hayes to swing at a 97 mile per hour fastball, a called strike on another fastball, and struck Hayes out with a 99 mph fastball to escape the jam. Both Diaz and the crowd at Citi Field let out a hellacious roar.
The Mets placed multiple runners on base in the eighth. It marked the first instance since the opening inning. McNeil and Conforto singled with one out. They were left on base after outs by Kevin Pillar and James McCann.
Diaz needed to beat the top of the Pirates lineup to seal a Mets win. He already threw 18 pitched in the eighth. Diaz succeeded against the leadoff man Frazier, getting him to line out to left. Newman hit the ball against the outfield shift to left. He trotted into second for just the 12th extra-base hit in 300 plate appearances this season. Reynolds rolled over on a fastball to move Neman to third and put the Mets one out away.
Diaz couldn’t finish it off. John Nogowski singled to drive in the tying run. Gamel singled past a diving Pete Alonso, Nogowski went to third. Difo singled past a diving Luis Guillorme, Nogowski scored. The Mets were down 6-5.
Drew Smith entered to get the final out.
New York had Guillorme, Nimmo, and Lindor up for the bottom of the ninth. Guillorme opened with a single against closer Richard Rodriguez. He took a hard turn at first but hustled back. Nimmo eliminated the single by grounding into a double play and Lindor popped out to end the game.
It was the largest blown lead of the Mets season.
New York will begin the second half on Friday against these same Pirates at PNC Park. Alonso will defend his home run derby crown tomorrow night and Taijuan Walker will be the Mets lone representative at the All-Star Game on Tuesday.
