The Mets allowed a franchise-record tying seven home runs to the Pirates after taking an early 2-0 lead, falling to Pittsburgh in a 14-2 rout at PNC Park on Friday night.
Here are the takeaways…
–Luis Severino looked good through the first three innings but experienced a few hiccups in the fourth. With the Mets up 2-0, Severino left a changeup over the middle of the plate to Rowdy Tellez, who sent it 425 feet into right-center field for a leadoff home run.
Two batters later, Pirates outfielder Jack Suwinski turned on an inside fastball and sent it into the right field seats to tie the game up at 2.
Severino ran into more trouble the following inning, allowing the first two runners to reach base then allowing them to advance to second and third after Severino wildly threw the ball into center field on a failed pickoff attempt of Michael A. Taylor at second base.
Francisco Alvarez helped his pitcher out when he picked off Taylor trailing too far off third base but, two pitches later, in the same at-bat, Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds launched a high fastball over the right centerfield fence to give Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead.
Severino still managed to pitch into the seventh, but failed to record the out and loaded the bases before being lifted for Jake Diekman to face the left-handed Reynolds. That did not work out for the Mets as Reynolds belted a grand slam to blow the game open, 8-2.
-The Mets got their first look at Pirates rookie phenom Paul Skenes and put themselves in a favorable position early. Jeff McNeil, who has struggled all season and is not known for his power, connected on a 99 mph fastball from Skenes in the third inning for a 101.3 mph solo home run into the right field seats to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead.
–Pete Alonso seemed to enjoy facing the hard-throwing Skenes. The Mets slugger recorded two hits off of him – a 106 mph single to left field in the second inning and a 108 mph opposite-field single into right to leadoff the fourth. He did not fare as well in his third at-bat when he was rung up on a fastball that appeared to be just off the plate.
–Jose Iglesias knocked in a run for the Mets after beating out a double play to score Alonso after his leadoff double in the fourth. He also had an infield single in the seventh after the Mets challenged the original call at first base.
-While the Mets pushed across a couple of runs against Skenes early, the 21-year-old finished strong, retiring eight straight at one point – four on strikeouts – and 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, finishing with a line of two earned runs on four hits, two walks while striking out eight over seven innings, throwing a career-high 107 pitches.
–Ty Adcock surrendered three more home runs in the eighth inning — back-to-back jacks from Yasmani Grandal and Taylor — and another grand slam, this time from Tellez, to make it 14-2. It marked the fifth time in Mets history they’ve allowed seven home runs in a game.
Game MVP: Bryan Reynolds
The Pirates slugger made his mark Friday night, belting the go-ahead home run in the fifth inning and delivering teh big blow in the seventh — a grand slam — to finish 3-for-4 with six RBI.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets and Pirates’ four-game series rolls on with a Saturday matchup between lefties David Peterson (3-0, 3.51 ERA) and Bailey Falter (4-6, 3.87 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.
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