Last night’s loss was bad because there was seemingly no effort. Tonight’s was even worse, as the Pirates rallied from a 6-0 deficit in the late innings to win on a walkoff grand slam, edging the Mets, 9-7, Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates put up a five-spot in the eighth inning against Seth Lugo to make it a 6-5 game. Brandon Nimmo crushed a homer to center field to give the Mets an insurance run. But it wasn’t enough. Everyone talks about how well Edwin Diaz pitches in save situations but maybe that will change after tonight.
He hit the first batter in the ninth inning and walked the next guy. After an out, new Mets killer John Nogowski drilled a ball that somehow Jonathan Villar was able to knock down and keep the ball on the infield to load the bases. Diaz got a strikeout for the second out but then delivered a gopher ball to end the game in crushing fashion.
The late-inning reliever meltdowns ruined a big night for J.D. Davis in his return to the starting lineup. Davis reminded everyone what he can do with the bat in his hand, as he had three hits, including two homers, to help power the Mets to the early lead.
Tylor Megill threw six scoreless innings and Trevor May gave up a hit and a walk in the seventh but did not allow any runs to score. But it was all downhill after that.
Uh oh… There is no over-reaction to this. This is an all out fire alarm of a loss. This team is run big trouble now because their bullpen has disappeared. DeGrom and Lindor are out… can they rally and stop what cou
ld become a free-fall… three straight losses to the Pirates… you gotta hope Sunday gets rained out.
Quite a horrible loss after such a big night for JD. The Bucs are a team that needs to be beaten. No delusions that we are a championship but when you go to the 8th with a 6-0 lead you simply can’t lose. The pen needs to step up. It’s pretty simple.
Gut Reaction: Megill just keeps impressing. JD is a hitter and is a needed source in the lineup. Guillorme is a good defensive shortstop. I wished it was the first game of a doubleheader.
The cry to replace Davis with Bryant is wrong. We can live with his glove at 3B and we need his bat badly.
We need to get another starter and closer. That’s it!
The Pirates are a young last place team that has fight. The Mets are a mature first place team that believes in themselves so much that they feel everything will be ok at the end despite not knowing how they will get to that end. Just a bad night for two good pitchers, but too often Rojas has let them try to get out of the inning with two outs and they fail. It takes three outs to finish an inning.
So many injuries for JDG this year? Breaking down possibly? Somewhere Jerry DiPoto is laughing…