The New York Mets (23-30) were defeated by the Pittsburgh Pirates (25-30) by a score of 12-7 at Citi Field Friday Night.

Pitching

Matt Harvey got the nod for the Mets this evening and was not effective in the slightest. In 5.0 innings he allowed six earned runs on five hits, four walks, and one home run. He struck out five while throwing 102 pitches, 62 for strikes.

After the Mets gave Harvey a 7-4 lead going into the 6th inning, he immediately served up a solo home run to Josh Bell and walked Andrew McCutchen. Paul Sewald was brought in and he did not fare much better than Harvey. A Jordy Mercer single sent Cutch to third base before Elias Diaz homered to give the Pirates an 8-7 lead. Sewald then struck out pinch-hitter Max Moroff but then allowed four straight baserunners on a single, double, single, and hit-by-pitch before being visited by Dan Warthen at the mound. Whatever he said didn’t help because Sewald walked the next batter, scoring a run.

Neil Ramirez replaced Sewald after the walk, still with the bases loaded. He allowed a sac-fly to McCutchen before getting out of the jam with a ground ball. He stayed in for the top of the 8th inning but promptly put a curveball on a tee for Josh Harrison who cranked it over the center field wall to give the Pirates a 12-7 lead.

Josh Smoker limited the Pirates to two singles in the top of the 9th, not allowing a run while striking out a batter.

Offense

The Mets’ first runs of the game were scored in the second inning, when Lucas Duda cranked a second-deck two-run home run to score Neil Walker.

The next two runs would not be scored until the bottom of the 5th inning, when Travis d’Arnaud led off with a base hit. Matt Harvey then tried to lay down a bunt but the sacrifice failed with d’Arnaud getting thrown out at second base and Harvey reaching at first. Michael Conforto then drove in Matt Harvey with a two-run dinger.

After Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out for the second out of the inning, Jay Bruce singled in front of a Neil Walker RBI triple. After a Gerrit Cole wild pitch scored Walker from third, Lucas Duda crushed his second home run of the day to give the Mets a 7-4 lead.

The Mets threatened in the bottom of the 8th inning on two walks, but any chance of a rally was squished when Pirates first baseman Josh Bell snared a T.J. Rivera line drive for the third out of the inning.

The Mets last chance would come in the bottom of the ninth against Felipe Rivero who came in throwing gas. Michael Conforto worked a full count against the lefty, but lined out back to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. Rivero threw Conforto six fastballs, five of which were at least 101 mph. Asdrubal Cabrera then struck out on three pitches before Jay Bruce grounded out to the first baseman to end the game.

Travis d’Arnaud went 2-for-3 with a walk, Jay Bruce went 1-for-5 but struck out three times, and Curtis Granderson went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

On Deck

The Mets will send Robert Gsellman (3-3, 5.75 ERA) to the bump to face off against Tyler Glasnow (2-4, 6.95) and the Pirates at Citi Field Saturday. First pitch will be at 7:15 PM ET.