BITTER PILL
Rookie reliever takes brutal loss in MLB debut
PITTSBURGH — For his 68th birthday Saturday, manager Terry Collins closed his eyes, blew out the candles and began signaling to the bullpen. Just when it appeared the Mets had survived the worst of it, Addison Reed sat in the cake, and Tyler Pill and Josh Edgin threw it against the wall. Pill, in his major league debut, followed Reed’s blown save by loading the bases in the 10th inning, and Edgin surrendered a walkoff RBI single to John Jaso in the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park. Jaso was 1-for-30 against lefties dating to last season, making Edgin an obvious choice to face him in the 10th. But Jaso worked the count full before delivering the game-winner on a shot to right. Jaso stroked a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth to tie it 4-4 against Reed after the Mets closer surrendered a one-out double to Jordy Mercer.
“This is unacceptable,” said Reed, who has struggled in the closer’s role with Jeurys Familia lost for the next three to four months following surgery for a blood clot in his right shoulder. “This is not how I am expecting to throw the ball. This is not what I am getting paid for. The way I am throwing the ball right now is completely unacceptable.”
Jerry Blevins rescued the Mets from trouble in the seventh, entering with the tying run at third base then striking out Adam Frazier before getting the final out of the inning to preserve the Mets’ 4-3 lead. Neil Ramirez started the fire by surrendering a leadoff double in the seventh to Mercer.
“We got out of the seventh, we got out of the eighth, we got the ball to Addison Reed, so it was right where we wanted,” Collins said.
With Paul Sewald unavailable after pitching three innings in relief two nights earlier, Pill was deemed the best option to start the 10th. The righty allowed a single to David Freese before drilling Andrew McCutchen and walking Francisco Cervelli to load the bases. Pill was replaced by Edgin after retiring Gift Ngoepe for the second out.
“It was a tough situation, and I like that,” Pill said, referring to the circumstances surrounding his big league debut. “It’s tougher than an easier spot to come in — nobody on and you’ve got a cushion. I enjoy that atmosphere.”
The Mets received a solid start from Zack Wheeler, who lasted six innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks over 94 pitches. The righty developed a blister on his middle finger, Collins said, that precluded him from continuing beyond the sixth.
“I felt good coming out, and ultimately it was [Collins’] decision,” Wheeler said. “I could have gone out if he wanted me to.”
Wheeler should have escaped the sixth on Freese’s grounder that screamed “double play,” but Neil Walker bobbled the ball and could get only one out. McCutchen followed with an RBI double that pulled the Pirates within 4-3.
Wheeler later received a gift from McCutchen, who
rounded third for the plate on Cervelli’s ensuing grounder to the shortstop hole. Asdrubal Cabrera fired home to nail McCutchen and end the inning.
Pirates ace Gerrit Cole was battered for three home runs over five innings but avoided catastrophe. Overall, the righthander allowed four earned runs on 10 hits and one walk over five innings.
Lucas Duda launched a 451-foot missile that nearly left the ballpark in the fifth for the Mets’ third homer of the night, extending the lead to 4-2. Duda cleared the seats in right-center, reaching a concourse in the back of the ballpark just in front of the Allegheny River.
Travis d’Arnaud blasted a 96-mph fastball from Cole over the center-field fence in the fourth to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. The homer was d’Arnaud’s fifth of the season and first since returning from the disabled list. Jay Bruce homered for the Mets’ first run.
McCutchen, who was recently dropped to sixth in the batting order — he entered batting only .203 — blasted a two-run homer in the second against Wheeler that tied it 2-2.