Mets Batter Pirates for 2nd Straight Night
The Mets had the bats working against the Pirates again Thursday night, hitting three home runs as they held on to beat the Bucs.
Curtis Granderson got things going in the first with a leadoff homer. It was his 13th home run of the season and the 17th of the leadoff variety as a Met, breaking the record previously held by Jose Reyes.
Bartolo Colon led off the second with a double (!) to deep right. Granderson singled to center; Colon had to hold up and barely lumbered into third. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Yoenis Cespedes. Neil Walker followed with a two-run homer, his 14th on the season. And Michael Conforto went back-to-back to give the Mets a 5-0 lead. It was Conforto’s 10th homer of the year.
Walker doubled home a run in the fifth, just missing another home run, to extend the lead to 6-0.
The Pirates finally broke through against Colon in the eighth when Matt Joyce homered to center. They scored a second run on a single to end Colon’s night.
Colon went 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter. He is now 6-3 with a 3.01 ERA.
The Pirates made it interesting in the ninth. Andrew McCutchen led off with a home run off of Addison Reed to cut the Mets lead to 6-3. Jung Ho Kang doubled and then it was time for Jeurys Familia. With one out, Joyce doubled off the wall in right. Kang had to hold up and only made it to third. John Jaso, the potential tying run, grounded out to score Kang. Familia got Erik Kratz pop out to close out the game as he picked up his league leading 22nd save.
Mets win 6-4.