Tuesday night's game between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants featured two teams with struggling offenses. However, each team put up 11 hits in the game, and early on it looked like the Mets would run away with it as they scored three times in their first at bat. But the lead didn't last, R.A. Dickey had a rough third inning and the Giants went on to win 7-6 in 10 innings.
The Mets began the game with two of their first three guys on base. Carlos Beltran hit a homerun to give the Mets an early 3-0 cushion, but after the Mets got two guys on in the second with the chance to extend the lead, Dickey had a troubling inning in the top of the third as he allowed four runs, instigated by a no-out walk.
The Mets answered quickly in the third inning as Ike Davis smacked a homerun to right field, driving in David Wright. Once again, the Mets' lead wouldn't last long as the Giants answered with one in the fourth inning. Nate Schierholtz then homered in the sixth to pretty much cap Dickey's night -- six innings, seven hits, six earned runs and one strikeout to put the Giants up, 6-5.
Jose Reyes, who reached base in all six of his at-bats (three walks, three hits) singled home Josh Pridie in the sixth and the 6-6 score would hold up for four more innings. Mets relievers tossed four innings and allwed just one run, but the one run they allowed proved the most costly, a Taylor Buchholz-to-Aubrey Huff long-ball.
What makes this loss so tough was not just that the Mets started out with an early lead and couldn't hold on. It's that they had a perfect opportunity to end the game before extras in the ninth inning as Wright hit a double to lead off the inning and Beltran was intentionally walked. Davis grounded out, but Wright and Beltran were able to advance, so men were on second and third with one out. After Willie Harris was walked intentionally, Josh Thole did what he couldn't do in this spot: ground into a double play. If he does anything else, it's most likely a run, or at least gives Pridie (or a pinch hitter) a chance to bring the winning run home.