Mets, deGrom Steamroll Pirates 8-1

A Count Dracula kinda day broke into a beautiful evening for baseball. Jay Bruce liked it, doubling off the wall with two outs of Chad Kuhl in the first but advancing no further. J-Hay continued to smoke with a one-out knock off Jacob deGrom followed by a J-Bell walk. A grounder moved the pair up but Freeser went down swinging to ice them. Lucas Duda opened the second with a double and scored an out later on a rap up the middle while the Bucs went down quietly. Jose Reyes K'ed flailing at a wild pitch and reached first. That hurt because it allowed The Kid to get up with two gone in the third and he lined a shot over The Clemente Wall to make it 3-0. J-Hay dropped one down with two outs for his second hit. It almost paid off but J-Bell's opposite field liner was gloved to end the dance. The Mets got a couple of two-out knocks in the fourth but drew no blood. The Pirates did get on the board via Gregory's solo shot to center.

Cool Chad was Bad Chad tonight (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

But the euphoria was short-lived. A triple, sac fly and another Walker homer (rub it in, Kid) made it 5-1 in the fifth. Jhan Marinez came on and barely made it out alive, stranding Mets at second and third. deGrom kept on cruising. Johnny Barbato came on in the sixth and ball-foured himself into trouble. After two walks and two outs, Walker's bloop into short no-man's land in left plated a run and Duda doubled home two more on a ball that El Coffee should have gloved but apparently lost in the lights or something; sadly, those things happen a lot to Gregory. It was 1-2-3 for Pittsburgh again. JB walked another in the seventh and gave up a knock to deGrom (his second) but escaped unscathed. Cutch and Jordy singled to create a little smoke but no fire. Hold the phone - a clean inning v the Mets in the eighth, courtesy of Huddy. For Pittsburgh, their three up, three down was SOP tonight. Huddy sailed through the ninth, de Grom got gave up a single and collected his 10th whiff when he was yanked after 118 pitches for Fernando Salas, who easily dispatched the final two Pirates.

Well, Chad is back to being bad; too little control and too much up-in-the-zone when he was over the dish. Even if he was on, the Pirates couldn't solve deGrom tonight anyway, so c'est la vie and go get 'em tomorrow. Oh, and welcome home to The Pittsburgh Kid who went 3-for-5 with two homers, three runs scored and four RBI. Wonder how Jon Niese is doin'?

Notes:

• Gregory and J-Hay had a pair of knocks for the Bucs.

J-Hay just keeps on tickin' (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• New York loaded the lineup against Chad tonight - there was only one RH batter in the lineup. He has a big split w/lefties hitting .333 against him going into the game and it paid off for the Metropolitans.
• There were 29,408 in the park tonight. Be an interesting poll to see who was there for the game and who was there for Flo Rida.
• Ya wonder why Met pitchers drop like flies? Terry Collins sent deGrom out for the ninth after 111 pitches and finally pulled him at 118 in an 8-1 game.
• Jon Heyman of Fanrag Sports reports that Felipe Rivero has joined Tony Watson in signing with agent Scott Boras.
• RHP Mitch Keller of the Bradenton Marauders was pulled from his most recent start after complaining of back pain and today he was placed on the minor league DL with a back sprain retroactive to 5/24. He's the Bucs #2 prospect and #41 overall per MLB Pipeline.
• Ever hear of blind baseball? It's an international sport per Reuters Sarah Marsh and is played in America as Beep Ball.