The Mets lost their third straight game to the Giants tonight, 8-4 in a game that wasn’t as much as a pitcher’s duel compared to the last two games.

Starting off, Hisanori Takahashi was just awful; he gave up six runs over a mere two and two thirds, five of those runs in the second inning.

Andres Torres blasted a three-run homer in the second, and Buster Posey hit a solo shot in the third, until skipper Jerry Manuel said enough is enough and brought in Fernando Nieve in the third inning.

On a more positive note, the Mets did not get shut out for the third straight game, scoring four runs, and even managing to get seven hits against Matt Cain .

Ike Davis knocked in three of the Mets four runs, and hit two home runs, his second multi-homer game of the season, the other also being against the Giants.

Notes:

Carlos Beltran went 2-for-4 and hit a triple, also hit the ball with solid contact on every at bat, and there was no confusion in the outfield tonight.

The Mets bullpen pitched well in relieving Takahashi, particularly Francisco Rodriguez who struck out two in a scoreless eighth, although Raul Valdes gave up two runs over his two and a third innings.

Josh Thole got a hit in another pinch hit situation, making him 5-for-6 in pinch hit situations, and is 11-for-21 on the season.

Jason Bay went 0-for-3 and is hitless in his last seven at bats, yet also made solid contact tonight.

With this loss, the Mets are now 5.5 games out of first place in the NL East, and were overtaken by the Phillies for third place, who are now a half game over the Mets.

Tomorrow the Mets face the Giants at AT&T Park in an effort to try to avoid the four-game sweep, with Johan Santana (7-5, 2.98 ERA) facing LHP Jonathon Sanchez (7-6, 3.47 ERA) at 4:05 EST.

Related Stories

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com