Hartford Courant

Longoria, Giants tee off on rookie Szapucki

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SAN FRANCISCO — Evan Longoria homered twice and Joc Pederson hit his fourth in two games as the San Francisco Giants went deep four times in the first two innings off rookie Thomas Szapucki and routed the New York Mets 9-3 Wednesday.

Mike Yastrzemsk­i also homered off Szapucki, a 25-year-old lefthander making his first major league start and second appearance after the Mets summoned him from the minors due to a string of injuries.

New York lost two of three in San Francisco, the Mets’ second series loss in their first 14 series this season. New York had won its previous 14 games following a loss, the third-longest such streak in major league history behind the 1934 New York Giants (16) and 1911 Philadelph­ia Athletics (15).

The Mets also lost consecutiv­e games for the first time since April 10 and 11. New York overcame an 8-2 deficit Tuesday to take leads of 11-8 and 12-11 before losing 13-12. That was the Mets’ first loss in the 181 games in their history in which they scored 12 runs or more.

Szapucki, who had been at Triple-a Syracuse, got the start because of injuries to Jacob degrom, Max Scherzer and Tylor Megill. Szapucki allowed nine runs, seven hits and three walks in 1 ⅓ innings, leaving him with a 60.75 ERA this season and a 27.00 ERA in his career. His only previous big league appearance was last June 30, when he gave up six runs and seven hits over 3 ⅔ innings during a relief appearance in a 20-2 loss at Atlanta.

Following Chris Bassitt’s poor outing Tuesday, Mets pitchers allowed eight runs in consecutiv­e games for the fourth time after Jonathan Niese and Bartolo Colon in 2015, Dillon Gee and Niese in 2011 and Rick Reed, Al Leiter and Bobby J. Jones in 1999.

Mets left fielder Jeff Mcneil, slid face first into the low fence in left field foul territory after catching Donovan Walton’s third-inning fly. Mcneil bruised his left knee when hitting the wall, left for a pinch hitter in the fourth and said he anticipate­s playing Friday.

Longoria, limited this season by a right hand injury, had four RBIS with his first two home runs of the season. He put the Giants ahead with a three-run homer in the first and followed Yastrzemsk­i in the second with the Giants’ second back-to-back homers this year, boosting the lead to 9-0.

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