August 8th 2015 -- Rays 5, Mets 4

Saturday under the dome in St. Petersburg, Evan Longoria’s 4^th inning infield single brought home John Jaso with the deciding run. The Rays hold on to beat the Mets 5-4.  The loss snaps the Mets 7 game winning streak. The Mets started where they left off yesterday pouncing on Rays starter Nathan Karns for 3 runs in the top of the first. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a solo homer his 18^th on the year to make it 1-0.  Daniel Murphy then doubled, moved to 2^nd on a line single by Yoenis Cespedes and both scored when Lucas Duda hit a 2 run double to center and it was 3-0.  In the bottom of the inning, the Rays answered by roughing up Met started Noah Syndergaard.  Jaso doubled to lead off, Grady Sizemore then hit a long 2 run homer, his 5^th on the year and 2^nd in two nights to make it 3-2.  James Loney and Asdrubal Cabrera singled and both scored on a 2 run single by Kevin Kiermaier and it was 4-3 Rays after 1 inning.  In the top of the 2^nd the Mets tied the game, when Granderson hit his 2^nd homer of the game, his 19^th and it was 4-4.  After that, the Rays shut down the Mets. Karns went 5 innings allowing 8 hits the 4 runs (all earned) walking 2 and striking out 8. He gets the win; he’s now 7-5. Syndergaard struggled only lasting 4 innings yielding 8 hits 5 runs (all earned) walking 2 and striking out 6.  Thor drops to 6-6.  The Met bullpen gave them a chance getting 2 scoreless frames each by Sean Gilmartin and Carlos Torres. Brad Boxberger pitched the 9^th for this 28^th save.  The Mets struck out 15 times as team in the loss. They managed 8 hits, led by Granderson, Cespedes and Duda with 2 each. With the loss the Mets fall to 59-51 on the year and are now 21-33 on the road.  The Nationals are winning their game, if they hang on the Met lead in the NL East will be cut to 1 ½ games. Sunday afternoon is the rubber game of the series. Bartolo Colon (10-10 4.72) goes for the Mets, Chris Archer (10-8 2.54) goes for the Rays