Bullpen Blowup, Wilson Ramos Carry Mets to Late 7-5 Victory

Rollover infield single, stolen base, walk, whiff, back-to-back singles, and only one run as Archie dodged first-inning disaster with a K and comebacker. Fraze and Bryan Reynolds banged consecutive raps off Marcus Stroman. Starling swung at ball four and lined it up the middle to tie the game. J-Bell singled to load the bases and Joey walked an out later for the easy RBI. But like the Mets, no big knock was coming (Stroman helped himself with a barehanded play on a chop); it's 2-1 Pirates with both sides leaving the bases jammed. The Mets got a two-out walk in the second, helping run Archie's pitch count to 52. Fraze and Bryan singled with one gone and were stranded after a pair of lineouts; Stroman is up to 56 pitches and two innings have taken 1:05 to play. The Mets got two more hits in the third and left them on the pond. The Bucs went quietly, a first for either team tonight. Both sides made nary a peep in the fourth. No Mets noise in the fifth, and against all odds Archie should be able to start the sixth at 85 pitches. A Bryan two-bagger, wild pitch and walk to J-Bell between an at 'em ball brought on lefty Luis Avilan, who fanned Redbeard, walked Joey O and bopped K-Man for a no pain, no gain, RBI before Jacob Rhame coaxed the third out.

The Pirates wasted a fine outing by Arch - 2019 Topps Heritage

It was  a 1-2-3 sixth for Arch and ended one of his better Pirates starts. Reynolds drew a two-out walk, but was cut down trying to advance on a ball in the dirt. Michael Feliz was called on in the seventh. Jeff McNeil tagged him for a homer with one down, followed by a double that was stranded. Starling started against Justin Wilson with a rap and stole second with an out. Redbeard walked as Marte stole third, but Melky rolled into an around-the-horn DP. Kyle Crick gave up a leadoff two-bagger in the eighth, then Wilson Ramos went long and the Bucs were on the short end, 4-3. Seth Lugo spun a clean frame. In the ninth, Chris Stratton gave up a knock off J-Bell's glove and an infield single; a tapper moved both runners up. A strikeout was followed by an intentional walk of lefty Robinson Cano; Ramos (who, btw, is 3-for-4 with a HR) made them pay by clearing the bases with a double (not played very well by Pablo). Edwin Diaz came on. He couldn't stop Reynolds, who dropped a single into left, nor Marte, who homered. But he did have enough to fan J-Bell and Redbeard to close it out.

Marte remains amazing - 2019 Topps

Tom Prince isn't all that different from Clint; he won't use Felipe at home without a lead, even with the bullpen minus Ric Rod and Keone Kela. He called on The Nightmare last night up by four runs, but not tonight, when the club was down by one. One other diff was in clutch hitting: NY was 5-of-16 w/RISP, the Bucs 2-of-11. For those of us old enough to remember Motown, it's The Same Old Song all season. Sera, sera...

Notes:

• The top of the order did their bit: Bryan Reynolds had four hits, Starling three and Fraze two.J-Bell was the only other Pirate with a rap.
• Starling Marte tied his season-best mark of 20 HR, set in 2018, tonight.
• Too bad about the outcome; there were 37,335 fireworks-loving fans in the yard.
• Keone Kela dropped his appeal and began serving his 10-game suspension tonight.
• Toronto placed Nick Kingham on the 10-day IL (left oblique strain). Provide your own diagnosis, lol.