Tonight, the New York Mets (28-32) dropped their fifth of six games with a 9-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants (25-34) in 10 innings. Robert Gsellman was on the losing end following a four-run meltdown as the Mets’ bullpen combined to allow 10 of the Giants’ 14 hits.

Pitching

Noah Syndergaard kept the Giants off the board through his first three innings of work, retiring nine of ten batters after Joe Panik singled and stole second to lead off the ballgame.

The fourth inning proved to be much harder on the righty, as he lost an eight-pitch at-bat with a walk to Evan Longoria before Brandon Belt singled and Kevin Pillar roped back-to-back hits to plate the game’s first run.

Syndergaard proceeded to walk Brandon Crawford before center fielder Steven Duggar drove in a second run with a bloop single of his own. A pair of weak flyouts to right ended the 30-pitch frame. An error by Pete Alonso prolonged an otherwise smooth fifth, with Syndergaard retiring the bottom of the order on just 12 pitches. He followed up with a three-up, three-down, 13-pitch sixth.

Staked to his first lead in the seventh, Syndergaard allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval, but made quick work of his next two batters, striking out Panik and working a 3-6 putout from Mike Yastrzemski. With Longoria and his .220 average due up next, Syndergaard was promptly lifted in a double switch for Seth Lugo, with Adeiny Hechavarria taking over Amed Rosario‘s post at shortstop.

Longoria singled to move Yastrzemski to third before Belt lined a curveball off the wall in right to tie the game at three, though Longoria would be thrown out at the plate on a strong relay throw by Jeff McNeil to get Lugo off the hook. Noah’s final line therefore featured three earned runs, amidst five hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts.

Lugo worked around an opposite-field base hit from Stephen Vogt in a scoreless eighth, punctuating his outing with a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play against Crawford to retire the side.

Edwin Diaz pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing a hit while striking out three (all swinging) in a 24-pitch inning to keep things tied. He was subbed out for pinch-hitter Dominic Smith in the bottom half.

Robert Gsellman got his fifth call in eight days for the top of the tenth and struggled early, yielding a leadoff single and walking Belt on five pitches before both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Vogt swiftly doubled off the right field wall to score both men and give the Giants a 5-3 lead.

After an intentional walk to Crawford, Steven Duggar smoked a grounder off Gsellman’s glove that trickled away from the infield and brought home a sixth run. Hector Santiago was thereby called in for mop-up duty.

A Sandoval double down the left field line plated two more to make it 8-3. He would score on a single from Yastrzemski, who would reach third after a Michael Conforto error let the ball roll all the way to the wall. Once all the dust had cleared, Gsellman’s ERA stood at 4.54 – a whole run up from the 3.41 clip he took with him following the last homestand.

Offense

The Mets were held in check by Madison Bumgarner through the first five innings, having scratched off just four hits while grounding into a pair of double plays. Fortunately for middle of the order, they managed to take the ace to task the third time around.

Bumgarner, who came into tonight’s game with a 6.10 ERA and .825 opponent OPS facing the order for a third go, first surrendered a leadoff, 421-foot blast off the bat of Alonso. A flyout out and a nine-pitch walk to J.D. Davis preceded the next blast – this one off the bat of Wilson Ramos – to put the Mets in front 3-2. By the 26th and final pitch of the sixth, the lefty had allowed as many earned runs as he had through his first 51.1 career innings (0.53 ERA) at Citi Field.

The Mets failed to do much of anything against either Sam Dyson in the seventh, going down on seven pitches. They looked poised to do the same against Tony Watson in the eighth after the first two hitters were set down in order, but rallied with back-to-back singles off the bat of Davis and Ramos. Todd Frazier, however, would swing and miss at a changeup away to strand both runners.

After a three-up, three-down ninth from Mark Melancon lulled the Met offense back to sleep, Derek Holland staggered through the tenth, allowing hits from Conforto and Davis to prolong the ballgame before retiring Ramos on a liner to right. The Mets brought seven men to the plate with runners in scoring position and failed to notch a single hit.

Among individual accomplishments, Jeff McNeil went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts in his first game off the injured list. Additionally, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy secured his 1,000th career victory with today’s final.

On Deck

The Mets will try righting the ship tomorrow evening, as Jason Vargas looks to build off his best start of the year against rookie right-hander Tyler Beede. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM, with the game being televised on SNY.