The Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday at Citi Field 9-1 to complete a three-game sweep and improve to 10-8 on the year. New York has now won eight of their last 10.
Here are the takeaways…
- The Mets' offense was held in check for the first two innings. In the third, Starling Marte blasted a two-run homer to left-center that hit the railing just beyond the outstretched glove of a leaping Jack Suwinski. The two-run shot -- Marte's 150th career homer -- gave New York a 2-1 lead.
- With two outs in the sixth and runners on second and third, Tyrone Taylor stroked a single to center field to drive in a pair and make it 4-1, Mets. Harrison Bader followed that up by blasting a long two-run shot down the left field line to increase New York's advantage to 6-1.
- Luis Severino breezed through the first two innings despite allowing leadoff infield singles in both, but was touched up for a scratch run in the third. After a catcher's interference allowed Henry Davis to reach, he came around to score on an excuse-me, two-out infield hit by Bryan Reynolds that gave the Pirates the first run of the game.
Severino danced in and out of trouble all game -- his first and only perfect inning came in the sixth -- but didn't allow much hard contact.
Overall, he gave up one run (which was unearned) on five hits while walking three and striking out four, lowering his ERA to 2.14.
- Jorge Lopez relieved Severino to start the seventh and kept rolling, with a dominant 1-2-3 frame. Jake Diekman followed Lopez with a perfect inning of his own, which included two strikeouts. Grant Hartwig shut the door retiring the side in order in the ninth.
The bullpen on the series has worked 10.2 innings and struck out 17 batters.
- Francisco Lindor, whose struggles from the left side of the plate this season have been much more pronounced, smacked a single to center field in the sixth inning. It was just his fifth hit in 53 at-bats as a lefty in 2024.
- Francisco Alvarez snapped an 0-for-11 skid with a single in the second inning, and followed it up by swiping second base -- his first steal of the season and the third of his career. Alvarez was hit in the left hand by a swing while being called for catcher's interference in the third inning. He was visited by the trainer but stayed in for the remainder of the game -- notching an RBI on a fielder's choice in the eighth.
- Brandon Nimmo knocked in two more runs in the bottom of the eighth. He finished the day 2-for-5.