The New York Mets (31-45) fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates (37-41) by the score of 6-4 Monday night at Citi Field. It marks the Mets seventh straight loss and their 2018 home record deteriorates to 13-25. The Mets offense was unable to get anything going against Pittsburgh starter Jameson Taillon until the seventh inning where they rallied for four runs but ended up falling short in the end.

Pitching

Seth Lugo did not have best stuff but his defense did not do him any favors either. Lugo allowed seven Pirates to reach base but pitched well enough through five to only give up three runs with one of them earned.

Starling Marte reached first base on a fielding error by Mets third baseman Luis Guillorme to lead off the game. Marte would steal second and advance to third on a ground out by Josh Bell. Josh Harrison would give the Bucs an early 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to center.

After retiring the first batter in the second, Gregory Polanco hit a solo home run off the center field fence to extend the Pirates lead to 2-0. Lugo retired the next two hitters to end the frame.

Lugo struck out Marte and retired Bell on a fly out to start the third inning. Harrison reached first base safely on a throwing error by Guillorme. Harrison would later score on a RBI single by Elias Diaz to extend the Pirates lead to 3-0.

The Mets committed their third error of the game in the fifth inning when Asdrubal Cabrera was unable to come up with a ground ball hit by Bell who would advance to second base on a ground out by Harrison.

Bell would get caught between second and third after Moran hit a grounder right at Lugo. Jose Reyes applied the tag for the second out. Lugo would load the bases after a bloop single to Diaz and a walk to Corey Dickerson. Lugo escaped the jam as he got Polanco to pop out to Reyes. Lugo’s final stat line was 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO and threw 99 pitches of which 60 of them were for strikes.

Tyler Bashlor came in the sixth inning to make his major league debut. Bashlor retired the first two batters before walking Marte. Bell hit a two-run homer to the opposite field off the rookie to make the score 5-0 Pirates. Bashlor got Harrison to pop out to end the inning. He then returned to the hill for the seventh inning with much better command as he retired all three batters he faced.

Robert Gsellman pitched a clean eight inning as he retired all three batters while striking out two. Gsellman returned to the mound to pitch the ninth and gave up a lead-off single to Marte followed by a walk to Bell. G-Man would load the bases after giving up an infield single to Harrison. Moran popped up to Reyes for the first out of the inning. Diaz hit a sacrifice fly to center for the second out extending the Bucs lead to 6-4.
He struck out pinch-hitter David Freese to end the threat and inning.

Offense

The Mets were able to get two on with one out in the first inning with walks to Michael Conforto and Cabrera. Left-fielder Dominic Smith hit into a double play to end the inning with the Mets trailing 1-0.

Devin Mesoraco led off the second inning with a single but was left stranded as Taillon retired the next three Mets hitters. Taillon retired the first two hitters of the third inning before issuing a walk to Jose Bautista. The Mets were retired in order in the fourth inning. With Guillorme on first after reaching on an error, Conforto hit a long fly ball that barely went foul. The umpires reviewed the play and stood by the original call. Conforto would strike out to end the frame.

The Mets second hit of the game came with one out in the sixth inning when Cabrera singled to center. Cabs would end up stranded on first as Smith flied out and Mesoraco popped out to end the inning.

Reyes led off the seventh inning with a double. Kevin Plawecki hit a double that deflected off the third baseman which scored Reyes to make the score 5-1 in favor of the Bucs. Guillorme would walk to put two Mets on with no outs. Next batter and pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores launched a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence to cut the Pirates lead to 5-4.

Conforto hinted at a bunt with the shift on but was able to work his second walk of the evening. Joey Bats was able to work the count to 3-0 but Pirates reliever Steven Brault was able to run the count full and strike out Bautista for the first out. Cabrera would hit into a double play to end the inning.

Brandon Nimmo pinch ran for Mesoraco with one out in the eighth inning. Reyes singled to left advancing Nimmo to second but Plawecki struck out and Guillorme grounded out to end the frame.

New York was set down 1,2,3 in the ninth, dropping their seventh straight game.

On Deck

The New York Mets will send Steven Matz (3-5, 3.68 ERA) to the hill to face off against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chad Kuhl (5-5, 4.56 ERA) at Citi Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET and will be televised on SNY and broadcast on 710 WOR.