May 26th 2014 -- Pirates 5, Mets 3

Memorial day at Citi Field, for the second day in a row a brilliant start by a young Mets pitcher was wasted…as the Pirates comeback against the Met bullpen and beat the Mets 5-3. Jacob deGrom started for the Mets and while not perfect, deGrom fought his way out of trouble at times to pitch 6 2/3 scoreless innings.  He left in the 7^th with a 2-0 Mets lead. The Mets scored both those runs in the 5^th inning off Pirate starter Brandon Cumpton. Daniel Murphy’s RBI single scored deGrom and Juan Lagares, Lagares was called safe after a review on the play at the plate, ultimately he was called safe on the throw home on a throwing error by Josh Harrison. deGrom threw 122 pitches and tired with 2 out in the 7^th.  Jeurys Familia came in and struck out Andrew McCuthen to end the inning. But in the 8^th, it all came undone.  Scott Rice came in and got 2 quick outs but then pinch hitter Gabby Sanchez hit a homer to make it 2-1, then Terry Collins brought in Jose Valverde who allowed the game tying run but then got the Mets out of the 8^th still tied. Valverde returned for the ninth and the Pirates scored 3 times off Valverde to take a 5-2 lead. Carlos Torres was summoned and retired the side, but it was too late. In the bottom of the ninth Lucas Duda led off with a solo homer (6) off Bucs closer Mark Melancon to make it 5-3, but Melancon recovered and shut the Mets down after that notching his 10^th save. deGrom went 6 2/3 he allowed 5 hits, he walked 5 and struck out 4, he also went 2 for 2 at the plate and is now batting .800 on the year. Valverde pitched a 1/3 of an inning. He allowed 4 runs on 4 hits and walked 1. He gets the loss, falling to 1-1 and Valverde was released shortly after the game ended. Tony Watson got the  win for the Pirates he’s not 5-0.  Starting in right field for the 2^nd time in two days Bobby Abreu had 2 hits. In another move after the game the Mets also fired hitting coach Dave Hudgens and replaced him with Lamar Johnson. The Mets have now lost 8 of 12 and stand at 22 -28 on the year and 11-17 at home. Tuesday night it’s game 2 of the series. Jonathon Niese (3-3  2.70) goes for the Mets, Edinson Volquez (2-4 4.37) goes for Pittsburgh