Coming off the news their general manager, the man who brought all of them to the Mets, was once again fighting cancer, and he was going to take a leave of absence, which was phrased more like a termination, the Mets seemed game to win one for Sandy Alderson.

In the first, surprise leadoff hitter Jose Bautista led off with a single off Pirates starter Chad Kuhl.  After two quick outs, he found himself on third after an Asdrubal Cabrera walk and a Kuhl wild pitch.  Both runners would score on a Wilmer Flores seeing eye single through the left side of the infield.

From there, the Pirates would make three errors, Pirates pitching would throw three more wild pitches, and Kuhl would leave early due to injury.  They would not be able to take advantage of any of it, which put Steven Matz in a precarious situation.

To start the game, Matz was terrific, and he would not yield a hit until David Freese hit a leadoff single against him to start the inning.  That leadoff single would create some trouble for Matz.

Elias Diaz would double putting runners at second and third.  Both runs would score on successive RBI singles from Jose Osuna and Gregory Polanco.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets would have an opportunity to reclaim the lead for Matz.  After Kevin Plawecki was hit by a pitch, the Mets would have runners at first and second with two outs.  Jose Reyes would fly out to left to end the inning.  On the play, Pirates outfielder Austin Meadows almost overran the ball, but he recovered in time to make the inning ending catch.

That all loomed large as it allowed Mickey Callaway to give Matz the seventh.  With two outs in the inning, a terrific outing was spoiled as Polanco hit what looked to be the game winning homer.

Fortunately for Matz, the Mets would bail him out as Michael Conforto delivered hit own two out home run in the bottom of the inning to tie the score anew.

With Matz off the hook, Callaway initially went to Anthony Swarzak to keep the score tied in what would become a truly bizarre top of the eighth.

With Josh Harrison following a Meadows one out walk, Callaway took no chances, and he brought in Jeurys Familia.  Familia used his fabled sinker to induce what should have been an inning ending double play.  That never materialized as Reyes took his sweet time not only getting to the ball, but also flipping it to Cabrera.

With Harrison making a good hard-nosed slide, Cabrera had little choice but to record the out and jump to avoid the slide.  That offended Familia who got into words with Harrison leading to the benches clearing.  Things died down when Cabrera hugged Harrison, which was something the booth did not take kindly.

Familia still got out of the jam, and he pitched a scoreless ninth.  Tim Peterson, who has been very good in limited duty, followed with a scoreless tenth.

In the tenth, Conforto got things started with a leadoff walk against LHP Steven Brault.  Things got more interesting when Todd Frazier followed the walk with a single.  After Cabrera popped up not one but two bunt attempts, with the second one being caught, Flores would get his third walk-off hit of the season with a single down the third base line.

On a day of tears, it is quite fitting that Flores would be the guy to get the game winning hit.

Game Notes: Before the game, Luis Guillorme was sent down and Gerson Bautista was called up in his place.  Flores now has nine walk-off RBI which ties David Wright‘s club record.