Mets Roll Over Pirates In Rubber Match 7-2

The stormy weather stayed north and east, so it ended up a fine night for a ball game. Tyler Glasnow liked it; he gave up a double in the first but no blood was shed. Matt Harvey had a clean opening round. Three ground outs for the Mets in the second while the Pirates touched home on Gregory Polanco's bomb to center. The third was quiet on both fronts other than J-Hay's two-out knock. New York got back-to-back soft raps with an out in the fourth, and with two gone a wild pitch moved them up. Asdrubal Cabrera doubled them home with a drive off the wall that eluded a leaping Cutch to make it 2-1. Freeser legged out an one-out dribbler and Andrew followed with a single. A wild pitch advanced them a sack, but Harvey fanned the next pair to ice them.

Josh just keeps on swatting (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Harvey got his first hit of the year with an out in the fifth, a roller up the middle. A double moved him to third and a Jose Reyes liner to right that zipped past a lunging J-Hay made it 3-1. Reyes stole second and Bruce's double sent two more Met runs home before Ty put it to bed. The Bucs got back-to-back hit from J-Hay and J-Bell, but El Coffee bit on a slider down and in to stop the music. The Mets greeted Jhan Marinez with consecutive raps in the sixth. After two K's, Curtis Granderson had the green light on a 3-0 pitch and singled home another NY tally. The Bucco action was a Cervy walk. Lucas Duda lit up Marinez for a four-bagger in the seventh off a fastball that split the middle of the plate. Paul Sewald took to the hill and JJ greeted him with a single. It didn't spark a flame; Fraze hit into a 6-4-3 DP and J-Hay whiffed.

Johnny Barbato got the eighth inning call and gave up a two-out knock off J-Bell's mitt. Granderson fouled off three pitches and then singled to right before JB roped the Mets in. Gregory beat out an infield knock and was balked to second. Freeser doubled him home as the rain finally arrived. JB worked a 1-2-3 ninth. Neil Ramirez took the ball and walked Jordy & pinch hitter Jose Osuna around a K before barring the gate.

Freeser is getting back into the swing of things (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Tyler had another big-inning implosion; as the game progressed, his control faded and he was up in the zone. Harvey was locating his fastball pretty well and his slider had some bite tonight, but the Bucs showed very little patience in testing him. Anyway, bad start to the short homestand. They have a chance to get back on track against the Snakes tomorrow.

Notes:

• J-Hay kept his blistering pace with a pair of hits while Gregory & Freeser added two more apiece; Amore walked twice. The Bucs stranded 10 runners over the evening.
• The Pirates were 3-0 in rubber games until tonight.
• There were 21,828 at the yard for the contest.
• Next up for JT will be a bullpen session Tuesday at PNC Park. 
• Another guy returning from injury is Nick Kingham, who went 6-1/3 IP, giving up a run on three hits with a walk and five K after 97 tosses for Indy in his second AAA start.