The New York Mets are doubled up by the Tampa Bay Rays

The New York Mets were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 8-4 on Sunday afternoon.  The game took place in Tampa.  Bartolo Colon started for the Mets and struggled.  Wilmer Flores and Kirk Nieuwenhuis each had a couple of hits. 

Colon pitched two innings giving up seven hits and five runs.  He walked one and struck out three.  Chase Bradford pitched an inning walking two men, Hansel Robles pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and a strikeout and Jon Velasquez pitched a perfect inning.  Jack Leathersich pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Matt Bowman pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs but struck out the side and Carlos Torres pitched an inning walking one and striking out one. 

Flores had two hits, Travis d'Arnaud had a hit and Kevin Plawecki had a hit and drew a walk.  Nieuwenhuis had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Alex Castellanos had an RBI and Johnny Monell had two hits and an RBI.  Matt den Dekker had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Daniel Muno had two hits and Flores and Plawecki each hit a double and Monell hit a homerun.  The Mets were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left on base.  den Dekker had a stolen base. 

In the first Evan Longoria hit a sacrifice fly to give the Rays a 1-0 lead and James Loney hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 Rays.  In the second Nick Franklin hit an RBI single to give the Rays a 3-0 lead and John Jaso hit a two run double to increase the lead to 5-0.  In the fourth Castellanos hit an RBI groundout to cut the lead to 5-1.  den Dekker hit an RBI single and it was a 5-2 game.  In the bottom of the fourth Longoria hit an RBI single to make it 6-2 Rays.  In the bottom of the seventh Allan Dykstra hit a solo homerun to make it 7-2 and Juan Francisco homered to make it 8-2 Rays.  In the eighth Nieuwenhuis hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 8-3.  In the ninth Monell hit a solo homerun to make it 8-4 which was the final score. 

The Mets will take on the Boston Red Sox on Monday afternoon from Fort Myers, Florida.  Matt Harvey will be on the hill.