Familiar foes get tense
Pirates, Mets play each other 7 straight games
So much for the Pirates needing a couple of games to get back into the swing of things.
Playing for the first time since Sunday thanks to the All-Star break, the Pirates had the competitive juices flowing early and left PNC Park late Friday with one of their most emotional victories of the year, a 4-1 defeat of the New York Mets.
The benches cleared and a fight nearly ensued in the fifth inning after John Nogowski lined out to first and Mets starting pitcher Marcus Stroman began jawing at the Pirates first baseman. Nogowski did not seem to appreciate Stroman’s words or wild gestures, and the two nearly came to blows.
Adam Frazier, Ben Gamel and Bryan Reynolds quickly jumped into the middle of the fray before players from both teams spilled out of the dugouts and relievers came jogging in from the bullpen. No punches were thrown. The Nogowski-Stroman saga continued into the next inning, with the pitcher hanging over the dugout railing and trash-talking Nogowski, who was giving it right back and laughing.
It was a one-run game when things got heated, and Wilmer Difo gave the Pirates some muchneeded breathing room with his
second home run of the season, a terrific drive into the right-field seats.
FacingMets reliever Drew Smith in the bottom of the sixth, Difo sat on a 1-0 cutter down and in and crushed it 410 feet at exit velocity 106.3 mph to extend Pittsburgh’s advantageto 3-1.
Bryan Reynolds followed with a solo shot of his own, his career-high 17th of the season. After nearly putting one over the Coors Field fence in Denver during the All-Star Game, this was a no-doubter.
The Pirates center fielder worked a full count against Jeurys Familia and pounced on a mistake pitch — a sinker right over the heart of the plate.
Reynolds tattooed it 431 feet at 109.6 mph, the ball landing in the stands beyond right-center field to make it a 4-1 game.
The margin held up thanks to some terrific relief work from Chasen Shreve, Chris Stratton, Austin Davis, David Bednar and Richard Rodriguez, who preserved the win for Chad Kuhl.
As a result, the Pirates (35-56) improved to 34-28 alltime against the Mets at PNC Park. Pittsburgh has won six of nine this season following a six-game losing streak.
They also have two more games against these Mets in what is an incredibly odd pocket of the schedule.
The Pirates are playing the same team seven times in a row for the first time since the Phillies from Sept. 19-28, 1958 — and it seems like the Mets, who ceded a late lead Sunday, are getting a little tired of the pesky Pirates.
Fresh off a 1-for-2 performance in Denver, Adam Frazier returned to PNC Park in style, drilling an opposite-field single into left field to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Nogowski got the rally started with a single, his 15th hit in 29 at-bats as a Pirate. Difo and Kevin Newman loaded the bases with singles before a 39-minute rain delay halted the game.
Frazier didn’t wait around against Stroman, attacking an elevated cutter for the type of hit we’ve seen so much of from Frazier this season, a 75.9 mph liner that just happened to find some grass.
Kuhl did not have his best control Friday and walked four in the first four innings; however, he was helped by a pair of 4-6-3 double plays, those coming in the first and third.
After opening the second by giving up a walk and a single, Kuhl struck out right fielder Michael Conforto looking on a terrific outside fastball, the first of three successive outs.
The Pirates’ 2-0 lead lasted until the fourth inning, when Newman’s first error in 77 games led to the Mets’ run. Newman couldn’t corral a grounder hit by second baseman Jeff McNeil, which ended his franchise-record streak.
No National League shortstop had ever gone longer without an error to open the season. Among all MLB shortstops,only Cleveland’s Omar Vizquel (89 games in 2000) started a season with a longer errorless streak. Newman’s streak was the longest overall by a shortstop since Jhonny Peralta, who went 77 games with the Cardinals in 2015.
After Newman’s miscue, third baseman Jonathan Villar grounded out softly to Newman, who had no other play. That allowed Mets first baseman Pete Alonso to score.
Kuhl walked five and struck out three during an outing in which he threw just 47 of 86 pitches for strikes, leaning on his slider 48% of the time.
Around the horn
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor left the game in the fifth inning with an oblique issue. … Kuhl has a 2.31 ERA in his past 12 appearances (11 starts) at PNC Park since the start of the 2020 season. … Pittsburgh has homered in six consec -utive games (10 total) and in 12 of its past 13 (18 total). … Bednar has been scored upon just once in his last 12 outings. He has a 1.42 ERA in 22 games at PNC Park this season.