Chris Bassitt, Jacob deGrom help Mets take doubleheader from Pirates
Tyler Naquin returns to the Mets dugout after hitting a three-run home run off Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Bryse Wilson in the fourth inning on Sept. 7, 2022. Credit: AP/Gene J. Puskar
PITTSBURGH — For as chaotic as the division race might look, as harrowing as their evaporated lead might seem, as trying as their closest competitor’s near-daily success might appear, the Mets have proclaimed calm with their usual cliches and, most of the time, on-field play.
And on Wednesday, with an overpowering doubleheader sweep of the Pirates, 5-1 and 10-0, they restored perceived order by beating a team they’re supposed to beat. The first win snapped a three-game losing streak that matched their longest of the season.
The Mets (87-51) are ahead of Atlanta (86-51) by a half-game in the NL East. They have been atop the division for 149 consecutive days.
They’re all good, they say. No sweat.
“I’m sure the world was going crazy, but we’re fine,” Chris Bassitt said. “We can’t worry about what happened yesterday or the day before or a week from now. It’s just win today and that’s it. I understand the standings, I understand how well the Braves are playing, but we can only control what we can control. Do everything smart around here and worry about us and that’s it.”
Eduardo Escobar, through an interpreter, echoed: “Honestly, the mentality hasn’t changed. We come in happy, we come in excited, we come in united. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the other games.”
And Jacob deGrom, summarizing a 14-hour day at the ballpark: “It was huge.”
After Bassitt cruised through seven innings and allowed one run in the opener, deGrom was even better — seven shutout innings — in the nightcap.
DeGrom had twice as many strikeouts (eight) as baserunners (four; three hits and one walk). The first two Pirates managed singles before he retired 14 of his next 15 batters. His ERA through seven starts: 1.66.
He was particularly pleased with his changeup, which he threw a season-high 14 times. That pitch hasn’t been as sharp as his top two — fastball, slider — lately but nonetheless is a high-quality third option that he has been working on re-finding.
“That was a huge plus for me. And it’s definitely going to be a huge plus moving forward,” deGrom said. “In previous years, my changeup has been a big pitch for me. Wanting to get back to that, throwing it and being comfortable throwing it in different counts, so tonight was a good test of that. I threw some really good ones. Some weren’t great. But overall they were a lot better than what they had been previously.”
Pitching in front of an announced crowd of 8,717 that looked more like a quarter of that size, Bassitt struck out 10 and walked one. He scattered five hits, navigating late trouble to help manager Buck Showalter get through the game using only one reliever (Seth Lugo) amid a busy few days for the bullpen.
That was more of the same from Bassitt, who has a 3.24 ERA. He leads the Mets in innings (161 1/3) and is tied with Max Scherzer for most strikeouts (153).
“It’s a self-starter situation. The environment is — you gotta challenge yourself to pitch at that intensity,” Showalter said. “That’s typical Chris. We’ve come to expect that from him.”
All of the Mets’ four runs against righthander Bryse Wilson (six innings) came in the fourth, on back-to-back at-bats. Tyler Naquin crushed a three-run home run to centerfield, then Escobar added a solo shot to right.
It was the first homer since Aug. 10 for Naquin, who was playing in place of Starling Marte (sore right hand). For Escobar, it was his third in five games.
Escobar went 4-for-5 in the second game to headline the Mets’ ravaging of Pittsburgh’s series of pitchers, starting with reliever-turned-starter Johan Oviedo, who allowed four runs and got five outs. Jeff McNeil had three hits and two RBIs; Francisco Lindor two hits and three RBIs.
Escobar is hitting .394 in 11 games since returning from the IL late last month.
“It’s a reminder of what he’s capable of doing,” Showalter said.
The Mets have four weeks (and 24 games) remaining in the regular season.
“We’ve been great at keeping everything calm and relaxed,” Bassitt said.
Lindor said: “I said it from day one: It’s going to be a tight race — it should be a tight race — the whole entire time . . . Let’s see if we can lose less than they do.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
