NEW YORK -- Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman found out the hard way that left-hander Tyler Anderson could rake and it proved costly as the Pirates won, 6-2, in the first game of a seven-inning doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field.

The game was tied at 2 in the top of the fifth inning when Anderson came to the plate to face Stroman with two outs. It seemed Anderson was going to be an easy out. After all, he struck out in his first at-bat and was an .063 hitter entering the game. The count was 1-1, when Anderson hit the ball over the right-center-field fence to give the Pirates a one-run lead.

“I threw a slider that didn’t slide,” Stroman said. “If I execute that pitch, he will probably swing over it.”

Anderson wasn’t sure if the ball was going over the wall. It turned out to be his second career home run.

“As soon as I hit it, I was hoping it would get over the outfielder’s head,” Anderson said. “They were catching home runs earlier in the game, so once I thought it had a chance, I was just hoping it didn’t get caught still.”

Stroman would leave the game after that inning, pitching five innings and allowing three runs on five hits.

“That forced us to take [Stroman] out of the game because it’s a seven-inning game,” manager Luis Rojas said. “We’re managing with nine outs to go. We are trying to build some momentum. We knew we had to use [Jeff] McNeil [who was batting for Stroman in the bottom of the fifth].”

At first it looked like he was going to have a game to remember. Stroman was dealing during the first three innings, retiring the first nine Pirates in order.

But things began to unravel in the fourth inning when Stroman allowed a two-run double to John Nogowski to make it a 2-1 game in favor of Pittsburgh.

Mets third baseman Jonathan Villar tied the score at 2 with a mammoth home run over the left-field wall -- his third homer in two games of the series.

“You could single out probably two mistakes that could happen in a game. [The Pirates] basically took advantage,” Rojas said.

Mets reliever Trevor May entered the game in the sixth inning and Pittsburgh increased its lead with a two-run homer by Bryan Reynolds, who was robbed of a homer in the first by Brandon Nimmo’s over-the-wall catch.

The Pirates added another run off Drew Smith in the seventh inning when Jared Oliva scored on a double by Ke’Bryan Hayes.