STARLING MARTE’S HR KEYS SURGING METS TO SWEEP OF PIRATES WITH 9-1 VICTORY

Starling Marte hit his 150th career homer Wednesday, powering the New York Mets to a 9-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates and a sweep of a threegame series.

Marte, who spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Pirates, hit the milestone two-run homer off the railing beyond the left-center field fence to give the Mets a 2-1 lead in the third inning. The 35-year-old is the only active player with at least 150 homers and 300 stolen bases.

His 341 steals lead all current players. “Continue competing, continue reaching milestones and goals,” Marte said through an interpreter. “And also for the team to continue to win — that's all that I really focus on.”

Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run single in the sixth and Harrison Bader homered on the next pitch for the Mets, who went 5-1 on a homestand against the Pirates and Kansas City Royals to improve to 10-3 since an 0-5 start.

Four of the Mets' wins on the homestand — including all three against the Pirates — were on comebacks.

“Really good homestand for us,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We were able to comeback a couple nights. Today, got behind again. It's good to see the team continue to play well.”

Brandon Nimmo's two-run single capped a three-run eighth.

The sweep was the first for the Mets at Citi Field since they won three straight from the Philadelphia Phillies from May 30-June 1, 2023.

Right-hander Luis Severino (2-1) allowed an unearned run in six innings — his longest start since he tossed seven scoreless innings for the Yankees against the Detroit Tigers last Aug. 28. Severino allowed a base runner in each of his first five innings, but induced three double plays.

“We're doing great — putting (together) great at-bats, scoring a lot of runs, defense was unbelievable today,” Severino said.

Bryan Reynolds had a third-inning RBI single to give the Pirates a short-lived lead. Pittsburgh scored at least five runs in 10 of its first 16 games this season before being limited to five runs and 13 hits by the Mets.

“We have to have better at-bats,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said.