Through the mess that has been the Mets of late, the one thing that has been consistently going well has been the starting pitching. Ok, Brandon Nimmo too, but the starting pitching has been quite good.

That is what has made this run so frustrating. The starting pitching has kept them in games and games close only for the team to invent ways to lose games.

Tonight was another outstanding start from the Mets rotation. This time it came from Zack Wheeler, who has recently been good except for that one inning or batter.

Tonight, there was no except. Wheeler was just dominant.

Through seven scoreless innings, Wheeler allowed just five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. It was about as good a performance as you have seen from him.

Better yet for him, he actually got some run support.

In the third, Amed Rosario, who was finally playing again after Jose Reyes got the playing time he demanded, started a rally by getting hit by an Ivan Nova pitch.

After being sacrificed to second by Wheeler, it seemed like he’d be stranded there. However, Jose Bautista would deliver a two out opposite field RBI double, and then he’d score on an Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single.

The Mets 2-0 lead would expand to 3-0 on a Wilmer Flores solo homer in the sixth.

Bring up the ?! pic.twitter.com/CJdFWT9jWN

— New York Mets (@Mets) June 28, 2018

The question with this bullpen was whether a 3-0 lead would be enough. Initially, the answer seemed to be no.

Robert Gsellman came in and he was hit hard with the only out he recorded was a sacrifice fly from Austin Meadows. When Josh Bell followed the sacrifice fly with a hard hit single, Mickey Callaway didn’t mess around.

Callaway pulled a struggling reliever for a hot one in Tim Peterson. Callaway’s faith in him was vindicated as Peterson got the next two outs to get the Mets out of the inning preserving the 3-1 lead.

Despite pitching 1.2 innings last night, Jeurys Familia came on in the ninth for the save.

Before he got an out, the Pirates had the bases loaded with no outs and a run scored.

For some reason, through most of this, the Mets had no one up in the bullpen after an inning where Gsellman got the quick hook.

After Familia gave up a four pitch walk, Callaway went well to Anthony Swarzak, who either doesn’t need much time to warm up or came in way too soon.

Well, it was the later as on Swarzak’s first pitch, David Freese hit a two RBI single to give the Pirates a 4-3 lead. Again, there were no outs in the inning.

All said and done, it was Pirates 5 – Mets 3. Another game and series lost by a Mets who is funding ways to lose games.

Game Notes: Cabrera is hitting again going 3-4 with a double, RBI, and a run. Corey Oswalt was held back from his Triple-A starts so he can make a start this weekend for the injured Jason Vargas. Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto swapped defensive positions with Nimmo manning center and Conforto on left.