BOBBY BLOWS IT AS BUCS SWEEP
Mets swept by Bucs after late implosion
After six innings and a 42minute rain delay, the Mets and Pirates — as pretty much was their custom for two previous games — were tied. The Pirates put the leadoff man on against reliever Bobby Parnell who got exactly what he wanted:
A potential double-play grounder back to the box.
But the result was the absolute last thing the Mets needed.
“I’m late to the bag,” said shortstop Ruben Tejada about the play, in which Parnell’s throw to the base ended up in center field. “He did what he had to do. Catch the ball and make a good throw. He threw it right to the bag.”
So the sure-bet double play became the impetus for Mets disaster as the Pirates scored four times in the inning and kept rolling from there, all the way to an 8-1 victory Sunday at Citi Field, where they completed their second three-game series sweep of the Mets before a crowd of 40,250.
“The guy who’s covering has got to be there. End of story,” said manager Terry Collins, whose the Mets are still atop the NL East by 4 ½ games over the Nationals, who lost their sixth straight.
“I didn’t see the replay. I heard the throw was OK,” said Collins. “You’ve got to be able to get there. Bobby got the double play ball he needed to have, we didn’t make the play.”
Parnell (1-3), on in relief of Matt Harvey, who was finished after six innings, 103 pitches and the rain, lasted two-thirds of an inning. Parnell, rapped around Friday in the 10th inning for three straight hits, two runs and the loss, surrendered two hits, two walks and four runs — two unearned — this time. He got charged with the error, though it was Tejada who goofed. Parnell, again the object of the Mets boo-birds, did not comment after the game.
“We didn’t execute it. We didn’t turn the double play,” said second baseman Daniel Murphy. “When you go from thinking you had two [outs] to first and third and none, it’s frustrating.”
The whole weekend was frustrating. Two extra-inning losses, then Sunday. Harvey was not at his best. He made pitches to escape trouble, but gave up a second inning solo homer to Pedro Alvarez (ending his career high-tying scoreless streak at 16 innings). Travis d’Arnaud matched that homer with a solo shot in the bottom of the second. So the game stayed tied, 1-1.
But the rain came in the bottom of the sixth and apparently washed away much of the Mets’ knowledge of how to play baseball. The Mets, again offensively challenged (four hits, 12 strikeouts) had two on when the rain hit. But when play resumed, they went meekly.
Parnell entered. Begin nightmare. Pedro Florimon walked. Michael Morse, pinch hitting for winning reliever Arquimedes Caminero (4-1), sent that potential double-play grounder back to the box. The play ended with runners on first and third.
Floodgate time. Gregory Polanco singled in a run. Pinch runner (for Morse) Sean Rodriguez scored on a passed ball. Aramis Ramirez finished Parnell with an RBI single. Alvarez blooped an RBI hit against Eric O’Flaherty and it was 5-1.
The Pirates, who outscored the Mets 37-10 in their six games this season, added three runs in the eighth on an infield RBI hit by Starling Marte and a tworun double by Ramirez. So Collins put on his brave face after the sweep. The Mets got three good-enough-towin pitching efforts from Bartolo Colon, Jonathon Niese and Harvey. All three got no-decisions. Collins insisted it wasn’t too senses-numbing. Check the opponent.
“It would have if they were 20-50. They’re not. They’re a good team. We played good. We had a bad day, came out of the rain delay, we didn’t play good,” Collins said. “We’re tired right now. … We had a terrible two innings in a row in a good weekend. We played very good baseball until the seventh inning today.
“We lost two tough games in the last two days. Today it got ugly,” Collins said. “It’s crunch time, 44 to go, 4 ¹/2 game lead.”