Final Score: Rays 4, Mets 3—Colon can't hold early lead

For the second straight night, the Mets took an early lead in Tampa only to lose to the Rays, this time falling 4-3 and dropping the series as well.

The Mets scored three runs in the bottom of the second thanks to an uncharacteristic fit of wildness from the otherwise excellent Chris Archer. Archer walked Juan Uribe, Wilmer Flores, Kevin Plawecki, and then Curtis Granderson to force in the first run of the game. Daniel Murphy then worked the count full before stroking a single to right that plated Flores and Plawecki to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.

Bartolo Colon gave a run back in the third on a John Jaso sacrifice fly, then Jaso came through again in the fifth with a two-run double that tied the game. In the seventh, Richie Shaffer—who scored the first two runs of the game for the Rays—blasted his second home run of the season to give Tampa the 4-3 lead they'd hold until the end.

Fortunately for the Mets, the Nationals let another lead slip away to the Rockies, who won the game 6-4 and took two of three from the Nats in Washington. Colorado will swing up the coast and meet the Mets at Citi Field on Monday to begin a four-game series in New York.

GameThread Roll Call

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.