Make it two consecutive nights the Pirates pummeled the Mets behind two big innings that eventually doomed the Amazins’.
On Friday night, the Mets gave up seven total runs in the second and sixth innings, leading to a 9-1 loss in Pittsburgh.
Then after a 90-minute rain delay Saturday, Paul Blackburn returned to the mound and was charged with three runs in the second. The Pirates scored six more in the eighth which led to a comfortable 9-2 win at PNC Park.
The first two runs — scored on RBI singles from catcher Joey Bart and Ke’Bryan Hayes — came with Blackburn staying in the game following the lengthy delay. He eventually surrounded five straight hits and was yanked with the bases loaded and no outs.
Jose Butto inherited Blackburn’s mess and managed to only allow one more run to score on Adam Frazier’s sacrifice fly. Butto’s effort kept Blackburn’s ERA from inflating beyond 7.71. The right-handed starter allowed six hits, no walks and struck out two in an inning of work (33 pitches).
Butto pitched two total innings and allowed just one hit, keeping the Mets in the game. But Carlos Mendoza’s squad still trailed, 3-1, as Butto exited at the end of the third. At that point, Juan Soto’s RBI single in the first inning accounted for the Mets’ lone run of the game.
The hit scored Francisco Lindor, who reached on a leadoff double.
The Mets, however, failed to find any offense as the bullpen kept the team in the game. Butto, Brandon Waddell and Reed Garrett held the Pirates scoreless over six innings.
All that work, though, was undone following the six-run eighth inning by the Pirates. Huascar Brazoban entered and quickly loaded the bases. Hayes’ RBI single knocked the right-hander out of the game, but Brazoban was charged with three more runs following RBIs from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andrew McCutchen.
Left-hander Colin Poche was charged with two more runs in the eighth following Bryan Reynolds’ two-run double, stretching the Mets’ deficit to seven.
The bullpen’s stellar work prior to Brazoban’s appearance went to waste. So did Brandon Nimmo’s RBI single in the fifth that got the Mets within one run.
It was a frustrating loss for the Mets, who are now losers of two straight. The lowly Pirates have now won three straight against Mendoza’s team, including their shutout victory at Citi Field on May 14.
Mendoza was ejected in the bottom of the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz. The Mets skipper initially appeared unhappy with Ortiz on a strike call a half inning prior on Mark Vientos.
Mendoza’s frustration continued in the bottom of the frame as he gave the ump an earful while receiving the first ejection of the season.
