Mets Fall in Extra Innings 4-3

 Mets suffer tough loss against SF Giants

The San Francisco Giants (7-6) defeated the New York Mets (7-6) by a score of 4-3. 

Jon Niese was the starter tonight and struggled from the gate. He would rebound and post a quality start by going 6 innings and allowing 3 runs.

Angel Pagan played his first game back at Citi Field as an opposing player and hit his first homerun of the season in the third inning, which put the Giants up 1-0.

Jason Bay hit his 3rd homerun of the year during the fourth inning putting Mets on the board with the score of 3-1.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis continued his strong play of late by homering in the fifth inning cutting the deficit to only one run.

The bullpen was solid after Niese`s departure. Ramirez, Rauch, and Byrdak combined for three scoreless innings, only giving up 2 hits in the 3 innings they pitched.

NINTH INNING:

The Mets would start a rally thanks to a Jason Bay lead-off infield single. Kirk Nieuwenhuis would follow by getting walked with only one out. Josh Thole would come through with a RBI single tying the game at 3. Giant`s pitcher Javy Lopez would be replaced with Sergio Romo to face Max Baxter. Baxter would hit the ball to first basemen Brandon Belt, who would throw out Kirk Nieuwenhuis at the plate. The Mets would then go to extra inning after Ruben Tejada struck out to end the frame.

TENTH INNING:

Frank Francisco proved to be ineffective right from the gate. Francisco would walk Melky Cabrera on four pitches to start the inning. Pablo Sandoval would strike out and give Francisco one out. Francisco also struggled to hold Melky Cabrera at first. Cabrera would steal second shortly after the Sandoval strikeout. The next batter Gregor Blanco would then fly out to centerfield making it 2 outs. Terry Collins then decided to walk Nate Schierholtz to face the Giants backup catcher Hector Sanchez. Sanchez would then single to CF making it 4-3 inning. Francisco would then get out of the inning without further damage. 

The Mets started the tenth inning by getting two straight singles from both Daniel Murphy and David Wright. Clay Hensley would then come in to the game with no outs getting Ike Davis to ground out, which advanced Murphy to third and Wright to second. Jason Bay had a HUGE opportunity to drive in the tying run and possibly the winning run with only 1 out. Bay wouldn`t come through and ended up striking out. Strikeouts are something that Jason Bay has struggled with tremendously in his three years with the Mets and it ended up possibly costing the Mets the game tonight. Lucas Duda would then end the game by flying out to center-field.

This was a TOUGH loss to swallow for any Mets fan today. The Mets had several chances to tie and even win the game tonight. Mike Baxter could have easily driven in Kirk Nieuwenhuis with a sacrifice fly to win the game with the game for the Mets. Jason Bay could have also easily driven in the tying run with a simple sacrifice fly in the tenth inning. We can play the blame game all day but the fact of the matter that the Mets need to work on their situational hitting. The Mets are 3-6 since starting the season 4-0. 

The Mets look to take Game 2 of a four game series tomorrow afternoon against the Giants. Mike Pelfrey goes for the Mets and Ryan Vogelsong goes for the Giants.