New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey came into Saturday afternoon’s game with 16 consecutive scoreless innings. He left allowing a career high seven runs in the shortest outing of his career.
The Pittsburgh Pirates offense capitalized off Harvey’s [5-2] fastball en route to an 8-2 victory.
“We had a plan,” Francisco Cervelli said. “It was just a bad day for him and everybody’s going to have a bad day and today was his day. He’s still a great pitcher and still one of the best but the credit is for the guys today. Everyone was swinging at good pitches, battled the whole time and we won the game.”
Andrew McCutchen came into the game with a .333 batting average in his last 15 games. This string continued with a hit that was caught on a bounce by Pirates bullpen coach Euclides Rojas. The 441-foot home run was McCutchen’s sixth of the season. It scored Josh Harrison, who singled to extend his hitting streak to 10 games and then stole second base.
Pedro Alvarez gave A.J. Burnett [4-1] additional run support with his eighth homer of the season. The solo home run barely stayed in the right field seats above the Clemente Wall.
The Mets struck for one run in the fourth inning on a fielder’s choice from Daniel Murphy. Alvarez elected to get the runner at second base. This decision may have saved another run from scoring.
In the bottom half of the frame, the Pirates struck for four runs. Jung Ho Kang started with a single and hustled around the bases to score when the next batter, Alvarez hit a double down the right field line. Polanco then walked as Alvarez advanced via a wild pitch. Cervelli would also walk loading the bases for Burnett who hit a sacrifice fly. Harrison then stepped to the plate and hit an opposite field double down the right field line.
Burnett would pitch seven innings and strike out a season high 10 batters which is his highest total since Aug. 25. He departed after the seventh inning to an ovation from the sellout crowd of 39,385. He acknowledged this with a wave of his glove.
“A packed house is always fun, it hit me when I walked out,” Burnett said. “I always play better with a packed house. Guys play off that energy.”
Burnett now leads the MLB in ERA with a 1.37 mark and still states that this season is his last. He now is the only Pirates pitcher since 1900 to give up two runs or less in each of his first nine starts of a season.
“He’s pitching as well as I’ve ever seen him pitch,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “His delivery, the release point, everything is coming out of the same release point which is tough for hitters. He’s been focused on making the next good pitch.”
Burnett also helped his own cause with a single in the sixth inning. Each Pirates player with the exception of Neil Walker reached base.
An eighth run was tacked on in the seventh inning. McCutchen doubled and fell a triple short of a cycle. Sean Rodriguez came in to pinch run and scored when Marte’s ground out was overthrown by Eric Campbell.
Antonio Bastardo relieved Burnett and allowed a leadoff home run to Carlos Torres. It was his first homer of the season. Radhames Liz pitched the ninth inning.
In the series finale, Jonathon Niese [3-4 3.72] will take on Francisco Liriano [1-4 4.15 ERA]. Liriano is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA in one career start against the Mets. Niese is 3-1 with a 4.41 ERA in six starts versus the Pirates.
If the Pirates win Sunday it will be their third series sweep of the season. The first two were at home against Milwaukee [Apr. 10-12] and on the road versus the Arizona Diamondbacks [Apr. 17-19].
Photo courtesy: Gene J. Puskar/AP
