The Mets (59-52) were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays (56-56) this afternoon at Tropicana Field by a score of 4-3.
Offense:
The entirety of the Mets offense came in the early goings for the second straight day, as they scored three runs in the second inning, and then went quiet the rest of the day.
In that second inning, Tampa Bay’s young stud pitcher – Chris Archer – issued four base on balls to push across the first run of the ball game.
With the bases still loaded, Daniel Murphy singled to plate two more runs, 3-0 Mets.
Archer settled down, however, as he finished the day going six innings, and striking out ten Mets hitters.
Pitching:
Bartolo Colon pitched for the Mets, and though he didn’t pitch great, he kept the Mets in the game. Unfortunately, Colon did surrender four runs which was enough to beat him.
In the third inning, Richie Shaffer singled, which was followed by a Kelly Johnson miscue in the field that allowed Rene Rivera to reach second with a double.
John Jaso then hit a sacrifice fly to get the Rays on the board and cut the Mets lead to 3-1.
In the fifth inning, Jaso drove two more runs in with a double after Richie Shaffer and Brandon Guyer singled.
Shaffer gave the Rays the lead for good in the seventh with a solo home run. Colon was removed in favor of Eric O’Flaherty later in the inning, who got the final out, before giving the ball to Bobby Parnell who pitched a scoreless eighth.
Colon falls to 10-11 on the season, and the big righty’s ERA now stands at 4.76.
Well, you can’t win them all. Obviously this loss leaves a bad taste in the mouth of Mets fans, as they drop the final two games of the road trip and lose the series to the Rays, but still, a 4-2 road trip is good, and now the team returns to Flushing where they’ve flourished all year. LGM.
On deck:
Jon Niese (6-9, 3.51 ERA) takes on Jon Gray (0-0, 4.50 ERA) tomorrow night for the beginning of a four game series with the Rockies. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM.
