NEW YORK _ The frustration of a lost season seemingly boiled over in the eighth inning Tuesday night when Mets closer Jeurys Familia took umbrage with a clean slide by Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison, leading to the bullpens and benches clearing.
Two innings later, the Mets had reason to celebrate instead of fight with Wilmer Flores hitting a walk-off single in the 4-3 walk-off win over the Pirates at Citi Field.
The Mets (32-45) snapped a seven-game losing skid hours after general manager Sandy Alderson announced he would be taking a leave of absence.
No one associated with the Mets is happy with the way this season has unfolded, and it seemingly got to Familia in the eighth inning.
While trying to break up a double play in a 3-all game, Harrison slid toward Asdrubal Cabrera, who had to jump over the second baseman.
Familia then barked at Harrison as he exited the field even though Cabrera did not take any exception to the slide, and the benches cleared. Cabrera actually grabbed Harrison in a playful manner as the relievers made their way in from the outfield.
No punches were thrown.
Following the quick delay, Familia ultimately left the bases loaded to keep the game tied. He inherited a two-on, one-out jam created by Anthony Swarzak.
In the 10th, Flores ripped a walk-off single that just stayed fair down the third-base line.
The game was tied entering the ninth due to Michael Conforto's two-out game-tying homer to right-center in the seventh that evened the score at 3-all.
Conforto is Alderson's most-successful draft pick to date.
The homer took Steven Matz off the hook, who exited with the Mets trailing despite producing a strong outing. Matz stymied the Pirates for most of the night, but a blip in the fifth and one poor pitch in the seventh burned him.
He yielded three runs in seven innings while striking out seven.
The lefty did not allow a hit through the first four innings before yielding four straight hits to start the fifth inning while the Pirates evened the game at 2-all.
Matz was just one strike away from keeping the game tied in the seventh when he hung a 3-2 curveball to Gregory Polanco, and the lefty pulled a solo homer to right to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. Polanco also tallied an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Tuesday marked Matz's second seven-inning outing in his last five starts, and he tossed a season-high 110 pitches. He owns a 3.69 ERA through 15 starts.
The lefty has become the reliable third starter the Mets entered the year in search of.
