Mets Offense Sleepwalks Through Giants Loss

The Mets exploded for 11 runs Wednesday. Friday the offense took the night off as Ryan Vogelsong held them hitless through five innings in a loss to the Giants at Citi Field.

Jonathon Niese did not help his own case in the second. Juan Perez led off with a double. Gregor Blanco hit a comebacker and Perez was held up between second and third. But Niese bounced the throw to second and Perez was able to make it to third on the error. Brandon Crawford singled to bring home Perez. Vogelsong sacrificed to put runners on second and third. Hunter Pence hit a slow roller to second, slow enough to score Blanco to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. The Mets finally got their first hit against Vogelsong in the top of the sixth when Juan Lagares led off with a single. The Giants put the game out of reach in the seventh. Brandon Crawford tripled with one out. Vogelsong was hit by a pitch. Pence then tripled to make it 4-0. He came home on a single to extend the lead to 5-0. The Mets got on the board in the eighth inning when the red-hot Lucas Duda hit an opposite field home run, his 20th of the season. The solo shot made it 5-1. Niese was actually able to pitch into the ninth inning because of a low pitch count (87). He was removed from the game after allowing a leadoff single in the ninth. He allowed five runs (three earned) on nine hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. Niese’s record drops to 5-7 with a 3.24 ERA. Vogelsong was able to finish his complete game, limiting the Mets to just two hits and one walk. Mets lose 5-1.