PITTSBURGH — Three-punch combo.
Francisco Lindor departed with an injury, the benches cleared leading to an ugly altercation, and the Mets — down for the count — lost to the last-place Pirates, 4-1, on Friday night to begin the second half of the regular season.
The Mets (47-41) returned from the All-Star break to play the same team they’d just hosted at Citi Field for four days. Tensions were high after Marcus Stroman got Pirates first baseman John Nogowski to lineout to end the fifth inning. Stroman celebrated the out on the mound with a hop and a skip, and Nogowski took issue with his grandstanding. Stroman and Nogowski jawed at each other as the benches and bullpens quickly cleared. Players from both sides pushed and shoved one another into a huddle that, when broken up, featured Stroman hunched down with his hands on his knees.
Stroman ran off into the Mets dugout moments later. When the game resumed in the top of the sixth, Nogowski and Stroman were still bickering; Stroman from the top of the Mets dugout and Nogowski from first base. Friday was the second time this season Stroman was rattled by something an opposing player said to him, the first being his altercation with Diamondbacks infielder Josh Rojas last month in Arizona.
Though nothing escalated past the benches-clearing incident with the Pirates, the damage on the field was already done.
The Pirates (35-56), the club with the worst offense in the majors, came out swinging after the on-field squabble. Stroman had left the game up to the bullpen after giving up two runs on eight hits across five innings, and the Bucs pounced on Mets relievers for a pair of home runs against Drew Smith and Jeurys Familia in the sixth and seventh inning, respectively.
The Mets offense was particularly lifeless, going for 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position and stranding nine men on base. The Mets certainly had their chances — the leadoff hitter reached base in three consecutive innings — but they couldn’t finish when it counted. The same offensive inconsistency from the first half of the regular season has trickled into the second portion of their schedule.
Meanwhile, the severity of Lindor’s injury is still unclear after he grabbed his right side/oblique following a groundout in the top of the fifth inning. The shortstop notably did not run out the grounder to second before grimacing and disappearing into the visitor’s tunnel alongside a team trainer. The Mets for now are calling Lindor’s injury “right side soreness.”
The Mets are 2-3 against the Bucs in the first five games of their home-and-home seven-game set. Rookie right-hander Tylor Megill will take the hill for the Mets on Saturday, with Sunday’s starter to be announced. They have two games to make up for their embarrassing start against a team they should’ve beaten. These seven games were an opportunity for the Mets to pad their first-place lead in a mediocre NL East. Instead, they’re on the losing side of a series they could’ve had in the bag and the rest of the league is catching up.
