Mets blown out again by Pirates, suffer third sweep in two weeks
The Mets' Pete Alonso lies in the batter's box after getting out of the way of a high inside pitch from Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Mike Burrows during the fourth inning of a game in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Credit: AP
PITTSBURGH — Shortly after the Mets lost to the Pirates, 12-1, on Sunday afternoon, PNC Park opened up the field to kids in attendance. Under cheery blue skies, a relentless parade of children dressed in black and gold made their unobstructed march around the basepaths before stomping on home plate.
It wasn’t all that different from the 27 innings of baseball that came before it.
In what might have been the low point of their season, the Mets, who scheduled an emergency players-only meeting Saturday night that they hoped could stem their rapid descent into the abyss, instead found a deeper circle of hell, getting swept by the Pirates on their way to their 13th loss in 16 games. It was the Mets’ third time being swept in the last two weeks after not suffering one all season until the second week of June.
The Pirates (35-50), who outscored them 30-4 in the series, have swept only one other team this year. By the time the eighth inning came around, the Mets, whose pitching staff has collapsed under the weight of injury and inefficiency, were forced to put outfielder Travis Jankowski on the mound (he gave up two runs).
“They outplayed us,” said Francisco Lindor, who went 0-for-4 and is hitting .143 in his last 14 games. “They pitched better than us, they hit better than us, they played better on defense. It’s a big-league team on the other side. With that being said, there’s a sense of yeah, we’re frustrated.”
The only good news in any of this is that it’s finally over: After 13 straight games, the Mets have Monday off before taking on the Brewers at home.
“We’re better than that and they know that,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s a tough stretch and we’ve got to be better. It starts with me. We believe in those guys . . . We’re not happy about it.”
As if to prove that the Mets simply can’t have nice things right now, one of the recent highlights — Frankie Montas returning from injury to pitch five scoreless innings Tuesday — became yet another concern. The righty reverted to the nightmarish form that cued the 12.05 ERA he compiled in his six minor-league rehab starts, allowing six runs, seven hits (including two homers) and a walk with five strikeouts in four innings.
He mostly fell victim to a five-run first inning, and with the Mets hitting the way they’ve been, that 5-0 deficit felt all but insurmountable. They went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.
“It was just that first inning,” Montas said. “I feel like I was missing my spots a little bit, but after that, I thought I threw some pretty good pitches . . . [I didn’t] really command my fastball the way I wanted to, and that’s a team, if you’re not hitting your spots, they’re going to hit you pretty good.”
Montas, who allowed eight homers in 18 2⁄3 innings in the minors, gave up two to the Pirates in that first inning. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a two-run single before Oneil Cruz and Tommy Pham went back-to-back. Cruz teed off on a first-pitch cutter that didn’t cut, pulling it 398 feet to right for a two-run shot. Pham followed that up with an opposite-field shot that made it 5-0.
The walloping continued in the second, when Montas immediately gave up two singles before Andrew McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly for a 6-0 lead.
Montas, who was up to 63 pitches entering the fourth inning of a game in which the Mets desperately needed length, didn’t get much help from his defense.
Pham hit a ball to second that Ronny Mauricio booted to lead off the inning. One out later, Henry Davis hit a ball to the warning track in right. It was a tough play for Juan Soto, who had the ball pop out of his glove for a double.
Montas wriggled out of trouble but needed 23 pitches to do it, ending his day.
The Mets did get a run off starter Mike Burrows in the fifth when, with one out, Luis Torrens hit an 85.7-mph slider to right-center for his second homer of the season. It did little to limit the damage, though.
Richard Lovelady allowed a homer on the second pitch he threw, a sweeper up in the zone that Bryan Reynolds launched 421 feet to put the Pirates up 8-1 in the fifth. Dedniel Nunez allowed a two-run homer by Cruz in the seventh before Jankowski gave up another two runs in the eighth.
“We’re all going through it right now,” Lindor said. “It’s part of it . . . It’s a team approach. Whether [the pitchers] put up zeroes or not, we’ve still got to score as many runs as we can to get the win.”
Notes & quotes: Brooks Raley (Tommy John surgery) “continues to feel well” after throwing 1 2⁄3 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball with Double-A Binghamton on Saturday, Mendoza said . . . Jesse Winker (oblique) began his rehab assignment on Sunday, slotting in as the DH with High-A Brooklyn; he went 1-for-1 with a double, a walk and an RBI . . . The Mets signed Lovelady to a one-year contract and lefthander Colin Poche was designated for assignment.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
