Rich Hill's Struggles Continue For Mets Against First Place Giants

Rich Hill's fourth start as a Met did not end well against the first place San Francisco Giants.

Although the Mets landed in San Francisco in the wee hours of Monday morning, following their late-finish on Sunday Night Baseball, Hill was able to travel ahead of the team.

Hill got off to a fast start, tossing an 11-pitch 1-2-3 first inning while surprisingly not throwing a curveball. Hill retired the first five batters he faced, striking out two across three scoreless innings.

The lefty cruised through 3.1 innings, allowing just one base runner along the way. But with one-out in the top of the fourth, the Giants' offense woke up, as Buster Posey cranked a double to left center, and Darin Ruf drove him in with an RBI single for the game's first run.

The Giants recorded four straight hits off Hill, but if not for Ruf stepping on Alonso's foot to get tagged out at first base, the Giants would have cashed in for an additional run.

However, old friend Wilmer Flores had the Giants' fifth hit in a row to extend his team's lead to 2-0, thus ending Hill's night.

While Hill breezed through the first three innings, his struggles after the second inning this season continued on Monday.

With two-outs and runners on the corners, Miguel Castro entered and got an inning-ending line out to limit the damage.

"I gave up a couple runs and we were one out away from getting out of that inning and unfortunately I didn't do my job," said Hill after the Mets' 7-5 loss. "And that's what sucks, not being able to go deep into the game and help the team win."

Despite Hill's struggles in the fourth, manager Luis Rojas said they would have kept him in if their offense had been providing more support recently.

"He cruised through the first three innings and then they started stringing together hits," said manager Luis Rojas. "Rich is a really good pitcher, just our situation of not scoring a lot of runs lately, we had to make a move there. If it's another scenario we probably live with Rich there (in the fourth)."

Hill's final line was a disappointing one, tossing 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out two batters.

The 41-year-old now has a 5.10 ERA in 21.2 innings (four starts) since the Mets acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays on July 23.

The Mets came back from two-runs down in the top of the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, which let Hill off the hook. But the Mets' bullpen couldn't hold things down, surrendering five runs in a 7-5 loss.