Giants 4, Mets 3: Extra-Inning Heartbreak

The Mets lost their first extra-inning game of the season, an April heartbreaker which saw them come back to tie the game in the ninth inning, only to lose it in the tenth. It was a tough one to lose at home, especially since the Mets left two runners on base in each of the final two frames. Frank Francisco allowed the decisive run on a Hector Sanchez single after he had walked Melky Cabrera to lead off the inning and intentionally walked Nate Schierholtz under questionable orders from Terry Collins. Daniel Murphy and David Wright each singled to start the bottom of the tenth, but Ike Davis, Jason Bay, and Lucas Duda couldn't push a run across.

The Giants struck first in this one, scoring three times in the third inning against Jon Niese. Angel Pagan hit a solo home run, Buster Posey doubled home a run, and Pablo Sandoval scored on a wild pitch. Niese had a serviceable game, allowing just those three runs and notching five strikeouts in six innings of work.

Bay hit a solo home run off Barry Zito in the fourth inning and Kirk Nieuwenhuis did the same in the fifth. The Mets' offense was otherwise quiet for most of the game, until the ninth inning when Josh Thole came through with a clutch RBI single off lefty(!) reliever Javier Lopez to tie the game 3-3. Thole's hit put runners on first and third with just one out. All the Mets needed was a sacrifice fly. But pinch hitter Mike Baxter hit a grounder to first baseman Brandon Belt, who threw out Nieuwenhuis trying to score. Two outs. Ruben Tejada then struck out to end the inning.