The Mets (24-19) lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates (19-22) by a score of 4-1 tonight at PNC Park.
Noah Syndergaard got the start for the Mets and was the tough luck loser, as he pitched well despite allowing four runs, three earned over six innings. Realistically, it could have only been one earned run, as there were a couple plays throughout the game that could have been called errors if not for a generous hometown scorer. He falls to 1-2 on the season.
His opposition Gerrit Cole, the Pirates young phenom, pitched very well for the Bucco’s as the Mets could muster up all of one run against him. He pitched into the ninth inning, before being removed after putting two men on. He would get the win, however, as Mark Melancon shut the door out of the bullpen to finish off the game. Cole’s final line has him going 8.1 innings, allowing just the one run on six hits (all singles) and striking out ten Mets. He also induced double plays in three separate innings.
After Syndergaard struck out the first four hitters to greet him, the Pirates put two runs on the board after having two outs and nobody on.
Pedro Alvarez hit a ground rule double, and was driven in after Gregory Polanco hit a ball to first that deflected off of Lucas Duda‘s glove and bounced into right field. Questionably, it went down as a hit. Polanco was then driven in himself on a Chris Stewart double.
The Mets cut the lead in half in the third inning. Juan Lagares reached on a fielding error by Josh Harrison, and then advanced to third on a Kevin Plawecki single. Noah Syndergaard dropped down a sacrifice bunt putting runners on second and third with one out.
Gerrit Cole then threw a wild pitch which pushed Lagares across the plate and moved Plawecki to third. The Mets failed to score Plawecki though, as Curtis Granderson and Eric Campbell were both retired to end the inning.
Syndergaard buckled down after the rough second inning and set down the next eight batters to face him. In the fifth inning, Syndergaard let up two hits to Chris Stewart and Josh Harrison, but stranded them in scoring position, getting Neil Walker to pop out to end the inning.
The Pirates would put up a two spot in the sixth to put them up 4-1, which the score would stay for the remainder of the game. Andrew McCutchen doubled to lead off the inning, and was driven in by Jung Ho Kang two batters later. Kang then reached third on a throwing error by Syndergaard on a pickoff attempt and a stolen base. He was driven in by Pedro Alvarez, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field.
Erik Goeddel relieved Syndergaard and pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, lowering his ERA to 1.13 on the season.
In the ninth inning, the Mets got two runners on against Cole, before he was removed in favor of Mark Melancon. With the tying run at the plate and only one out, Melancon set down Lucas Duda and Michael Cuddyer to end the game.
In the last nineteen games, the Mets have scored two runs or less ten times.
On deck:
The Mets will look to even up the series tomorrow as Matt Harvey (5-1, 1.98 ERA) takes on A.J. Burnett (3-1, 1.38 ERA). First pitch is at 4:05 PM.
