Rough start to second half for Mets
Lindor injured, benches clear in scuffle, and Bucs hammer bullpen
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 played host to at Citi Field for four days. Tensions were high after Marcus Stroman got Pirates first baseman John Nogowski to line out 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 MLB, 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 seven men on base. The Amazin’s 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 Mets for now are calling Lindor’s injury “right side soreness.”