Pittsburgh @ New York preview
Citi Field
Last Meeting ( Apr 16, 2024 ) Pittsburgh 1, NY Mets 3
Asked how much fun he had while making a unique bit of history Tuesday night, New York Mets relief pitcher Reed Garrett grinned.
"It's a blast," he said. "It's a blast."
The rest of Garrett's teammates are having a good time, too.
The Mets will look to complete their first sweep of the season Wednesday afternoon when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the finale of a three-game series.
Right-hander Luis Severino (1-1, 3.00 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against left-hander Bailey Falter (1-0, 4.20).
The Mets moved over .500 for the first time in more than 10 months Tuesday night, when Joey Wendle and Jeff McNeil had an RBI double to spark a three-run seventh inning in a 3-1 victory over the Pirates.
New York was limited to one hit in the first six innings by Jared Jones and Luis L. Ortiz before mounting its sixth comeback win of the season. The Mets have won nine of 12 since opening 0-5 to climb over .500 for the first time since they were 30-29 last June 3.
A key component in the surge has been Garrett, who opened the season at Triple-A Syracuse before being recalled on April 1. The 31-year-old right-hander, who is pitching for his fourth major league team, has struck out 17 batters while going 2-0 in four appearances covering in 8 2/3 scoreless innings.
Garrett recorded all six of his outs via the whiff Tuesday, when he became just the second reliever in team history to strike out six in two innings. Alejandro Pena accomplished the feat against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 30, 1991.
"Whatever I can do to help the team win is important to me," Garrett said. "This is a great group of guys. We've seen it night in and night out. (It's) not every night we jump out to a huge lead, but we fight and claw. Everybody puts an effort to give ourselves the best chance to win."
The Pirates' bullpen endured an untimely loss of control for the second straight night on Tuesday.
Ortiz retired the first four batters he faced -- including Starling Marte on a first-pitch groundout to lead off the seventh -- before walking Francisco Lindor and surrendering a single to Pete Alonso. Wendle followed with an RBI double, and Alonso scored the tying run one out later, when Jose Hernandez balked him home before throwing a pitch. McNeil then contributed a run-scoring double.
On Monday, the Mets broke a tie with three runs in the eighth inning of a 6-3 win. Aroldis Chapman allowed McNeil to reach by throwing a wild pitch on strike three, then walked DJ Stewart before giving up Harrison Bader's go-ahead two-run double. Brandon Nimmo capped the rally with a run-scoring grounder against Roansy Contreras.
"If you go back and look at it, we've got to stay away from walks -- the walks hurt us," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "We get the first-pitch out on a ground ball and then we get a walk. We have to stay away from the walks or they came back to bite us."
Severino and Falter both earned their first win of the season with similar efforts on Friday. Severino gave up one run over five innings as the Mets beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1, while Falter also allowed one run in five innings in the Pirates' 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Severino is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates. Falter is 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA in four games (three starts) vs. the Mets.
--Field Level Media