Mets Hit Homers, Bucs Double Plays In 6-3 NY Victory

The Pirates went down quick like bunnies to Zack Wheeler, who needed just seven pitches to get three outs. Dario Agrazal wasn't quite as efficient - it took him 11 tosses to sit down the Mets. In the second, J-Bell, Bryan Reynolds and Redbeard posted consecutive singles to plate a run. Dario spun 10 servings in another 1-2-3 frame. It was a quiet third for the Pirates. Ah, the bottom of the order - NY's eight man tripled, Wheeler got plunked, and leadoff man Jeff McNeil homered. The Bucs continued to flail in the fourth and the Mets returned to normal. Pittsburgh made it 12 down in a row in the fifth. Todd Frazier went long to start the frame and run the score to 4-1. Pittsburgh woke up in the sixth. Melky singled and Fraze smashed a homer to right. A J-Bell single with an out brought in Luis Avilan, who restored order. Oh, Corey D left the game with a groin tweak; no, it never ends. Dario didn't have a shutdown inning left in him; Peter Alonso went yard with an out and Michael Feliz was waved in. He gave up a dinger to Wilson Ramos *sigh*.

Hopefully J-Bell is coming out of his doldrums - 2017 Absolute

The Bucs got a little bit of everything with Robert Gsellman in the seventh - walk, infield single, error - but a DP and K kept the scoreboard clean. Keone Kela gave up a single in a zippo inning. Justin Wilson took the bump in the eighth. Fraze said hello with a two-bagger, and an error put the Pittsburgh nine in business. Another K and DP put them in Chapter Nine. Chris Stratton got the ball and 1-2-3'ed the Metropolitans. Seth Lugo came on for the finishing touch; it took eight pitches to apply.

Homer barrage, DP parade...starting pitching and power are glaringly absent. Dario was bound to give up a few runs; he had an 88% strand rate and sooner or later, that had to catch up to him. And yah, it should be an interesting week for the FO.

Notes:

• Fraze and J-Bell had two hits; the Pirates had eight.
• At 152 HR, the Bucs are third in the NL in homers allowed. Their 15% fly/HR rate is middle-of-the-pack but a little misleading - they only have a 41% ground ball rate, 14th in the NL, so there are a lotta flies being hit off them.
• Corey D was on the 60-day DL with a bum wing; this is the second time he's come out of a game with a groin tweak since returning. Think there's much trade value there...?
• JHK went 0-for-3 with a walk and two whiffs; both K were on three pitches. He does have 10 homers in 173 PA; he also has 55 strikeouts (32%).