Odd 7th-inning stretches don’t stop Pirates
NEW YORK — David Freese and the Pittsburgh Pirates picked a fine time to pad their lead — in-between a bizarre pair of seventhinning stretches.
Freese drove in three runs, including an RBI single after things went a little haywire, and the Pirates drubbed the New York Mets 11-1 Sunday. “Such a weird situation,” he said. Pittsburgh led 5-1 in the seventh when John Jaso appeared to ground into an inning-ending double play. The Mets cleared the field, the Pirates got ready to take their positions and the fans stood throughout the entire singing of “God Bless America.”
Right before the music began, however, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle had drawn the attention of umpire crew chief Jim Reynolds, saying he wanted to challenge the call at second base.
“It was just a little bit of a disconnect with the timing with the song coming on,” Hurdle said.
As a light drizzle fell, there still was no action at all for a few minutes, leaving most people at the ballpark wondering why. It was then announced to the crowd that Pittsburgh had contested whether Mets second baseman Neil Walker stepped on the bag while turning the DP.
Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison (center) reacts while heading to first after being hit by Josh Edgin’s pitch during the seventh inning of Sunday’s game against the New York Mets.
In the dugout, Freese said he was thinking “there was no way they can challenge this ... with ‘God Bless America.’”
But the call was reversed on replay, the Mets trudged back onto the field and the Pirates traded their gloves for bats. New York manager Terry Collins, first baseman Lucas Duda and Walker were among those all over the diamond who discussed the decision with umpires.
“Can’t say that I’ve ever been through that,” Walker said. “Very odd. But given the circumstances, you hate to have that be the reason why you have two seventh-inning stretches.”
When play resumed, Freese singled home a run. After Josh Bell grounded out, there was a second seventh-inning stretch, this one with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” — the fans stood up again, and some left.
Freese said he figured the fiery Collins was bound to get ejected. He didn’t, but the next inning, perhaps Kathy Willens / The Associated Press
as a little jab, Collins challenged a call at first base when a Pittsburgh runner was clearly safe.
Andrew McCutchen lined a three-run homer, got three hits and scored three times to back rookie Trevor Williams (3-3). Freese and Francisco Cervelli each had three hits.
The Pirates turned four double plays and took two of three at Citi Field, their first road series win since late April in Miami.
Williams gave up one run in a career-high seven innings.
Rookie Tyler Pill (0-2) allowed five runs in five innings. Two of the runs were unearned after left fielder Michael Conforto twice overthrew bases for errors.