Earlier today, the Tampa Bay Rays played against the New York Mets at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The game looked to be a pitchers duel at the start, with the first inning being a breeze for both pitchers. However, that turned quickly. In the top of the second inning, the Mets got to Rays starter Chris Archer. Archer gave up four walks and three runs. The Mets led 3-0 after two innings played, thanks to a Curtis Granderson walk with the bases loaded and a two-run single by Daniel Murphy.

However, the Rays would come storming back, scoring one in the third on a John Jaso sacrifice fly to deep center field. It was 3-1 Mets until the bottom of the fifth, when Jaso got in the action again doubling to left field scoring Richie Shaffer and Brandon Guyer.  

Then the game would speed up yet again, but in the seventh inning Richie Shaffer hit the go-ahead solo home run, propelling the Rays to a 4-3 win over the Mets.

What does this series win mean for Rays?

For the Tampa Bay Rays, this series does not mean a whole lot. They are 56-56, 6.5 games back of the division leading New York Yankees. The season ends in eight weeks from today, so it appears the Rays are going to be playing for pride come the end of the year.

That said, the Rays watched one of their best young prospects bloom and begin to take form today, as Richie Shaffer went 3-for-3 with a home run. This game could be the start of great things to come from him, so the Rays will have to wait and see.

The Rays should be especially proud of themselves because they beat New York with some of the their best pitchers on the mound this weekend. This shows that their offense, which has been somewhat of an issue all year, is getting better. The pitching also took strides, outdueling the Mets, despite todays poor performance from Chris Archer. 

What does this series loss mean for the Mets?

This series puts the Mets in an awkward position because they were expected to take the series, especially with some of their best pitchers on the mound. However, they lost the series two games to one and continue their road woes.

The Mets are still atop of the NL East with a 1.5 game lead, as the Washington Nationals lost to the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon. New York is lucky Washington has continued to struggle, but there is no doubt they need to improve their road record, which stands at 21-34.

Overall, the series was close all the way through. Expect both teams to take a lot away from it. That said, we will have to see if the Mets can take the positives and not the negatives, as they look to propel themselves to an NL East Division Championship.