© Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
On a windy, rainy New York night, it was only fitting that the Giants came up against Thor – Noah Syndergaard – the Norse god of thunder. The Giants picked up two runs off Syndergaard early, but failed to continue that momentum beyond a solo home run and lost 5-3.
Syndergaard had three strikeouts and a pair of 1-2-3 innings in his first two before the Giants jumped on him in the third. Austin Slater and Gorkys Hernandez opened the inning with a pair of singles before Casey Kelly moved them both over with a sacrifice bunt. A grounder to third by Steven Duggar scored Slater before a two-out single from New York native Joe Panik scored Hernandez.
The night was a positive turn for Panik, who was 0-for-6 in Monday’s 2-1 win over the Mets. Panik flipped the script on his previous outing, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. However, he also popped out in the seventh with a runner on second and two outs in a potential game-tying situation.
The early offense from the Giants was bested by the Mets, who scored three runs on Casey Kelly in the second inning in what was an otherwise solid performance by Kelly. A leadoff, second-deck home run from Dominic Smith appeared like it would be the only offense the Mets would produce in the second after Kelly retired his next two batters.
After a single from John Reinheimer, Kelly looked like he had Jose Bautista retired until Brandon Crawford made an error. The Gold Glove shortstop had a howler of a night, making another error in the first.
By allowing Bautista to reach base, a seemingly impossible-to-retire Jeff McNeil came up and hit a one-run single for the Mets. The hit was McNeil’s seventh straight in seven at-bats in the series. Todd Frazier followed McNeil with a one-run double before Kelly retired Michael Conforto to end the inning.
Only the leadoff home run was charged as an earned run to Kelly, who pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs. In the fourth, Kelly allowed a solo shot to Joe Bautista before retiring seven straight Mets batters.
The game featured four solo home runs, three of which came from the Mets. After Austin Slater hit his first home run of the season in the top of the seventh, Todd Frazier responded with one of his own off Hunter Strickland to give the Mets a 5-3 lead.
The loss drops the Giants (62-66) to four games below .500 for the first time since May 30.