The New York Mets drop a close one to the Tampa Bay Rays

The New York Mets were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night.  The game took place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and the final score was 5-4 Rays.  Noah Syndergaard had a tough outing and the bullpen pitched well.  Curtis Granderson, Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda led the offense with two hits each. 

Syndergaard pitched four innings giving up eight hits and five runs with two walks and six strikeouts.  He took his seventh loss of the season.  Sean Gilmartin pitched two innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Carlos Torres pitched two innings giving up a hit and he struck out one. 

Nathan Karns won his seventh game of the season pitching five innings and giving up eight hits and four runs.  He walked two and struck out eight.  Xavier Cedeno pitched a perfect inning and struck out the side, Steve Geltz pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Jake McGee pitched a perfect inning with three strikeouts.  Brad Boxberger saved his 28th game of the season pitching a perfect inning. 

Granderson had two hits and two RBI, Daniel Murphy had a hit and Cespedes had two hits.  Duda had two hits and two RBI, Michael Conforto had a hit and drew a walk and Ruben Tejada drew a walk.  Murphy and Duda each hit a double and Granderson hit two homeruns.  The Mets were 3-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.  Cespedes had a stolen base. 

John Jason had a hit and drew a walk, Grady Sizemore had two hits and two RBI and Evan Longoria had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk.  James Loney had a hit, Logan Forsythe had a hit and Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits and drew a walk.  Daniel Nava had a hit, Kevin Kiermaier had a hit and two RBI and Jaso hit a double.  Sizemore hit a homerun and the Mets were 4-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.  Cabrera and Jaso each had a stolen base and Rivera committed an error. 

In the first Granderson hit a solo homerun to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  Duda hit a two run double and it was 3-0 Mets.  Sizemore hit a two run homerun in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 3-2.  Kiermaier hit a two run single and it was 4-3 Rays.  In the second Granderson hit a solo homerun to tie the game at four.  In the fourth Longoria hit an RBI single to give the Rays a 5-4 lead and that would be the final score.  The rubber game of the series will be on Sunday afternoon.