Aargh! Mets Pitchers Shiver Pirates' Timbers in 2-1 Win

Mets 2 Pirates 1 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 28-15

Mets Streak: W3

Mets Last 10: 7-3

WP: Max Kranick (3-1)

LP: Mitch Keller (1-5)

Seat On The Korner: Brett Baty

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

Brett Baty continued to make the case that he deserves to stay in the big leagues. evan after Jesse Winker and/or Jose Siri are ready to come off the IL. Starting at second base, Baty fielded the position cleanly and went two-for-three, including the game winning home run. Baty is six for 13 on the current homestand, including four home runs and seven RBI, and is looking more like the player who tore up the Grapefruit League before playing his way to Syracuse by going two-for-21 to start the season. So the obvious question to start the conversation between Ralph and Baty is: What happened? What did he do to regain his batting stroke? And does he feel he has shown that he has earned his way not only onto the roster but into the starting lineup?

Need To Know:

• With the win, the Mets improved to 17-4 at Citi Field this season. Their .809 winning percentage at home is second only to the Los Angeles Dodgers (.833).

• The Mets are 13 games above .500, their season high.

• The Mets have now won 16 of their last 21 games against Pittsburgh.

• The Mets are 10-8 in one-run games; the Pirates are 7-10. It was also the Pirates' fifth consecutive one-run game .

• The win gave the Mets their 10th series win of the season and their seventh at home.

• Pirates starter Mitch Keller went into the game with a 3-1 record against the Mets and a 2.00 ERA. In his only other start at Citi Field, Keller pitched six innings in a 4-3 loss on Sept. 16, 2022.

• Brett Baty got the start at second base with Mark Vientos playing third. Jeff McNeil DH'd and Luisangel Acuna got the first eight innings off before being inserted as a defensive replacement. Vientos had an adventurous night in the field, letting a ball bounce off his chest in the third for a double and another through the webbing of his glove in the bottom of the sixth, a double that eventually led to the Pirates' run.

  
  

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• Tommy Pham, off his one-game suspension, did not get into the game, even though he has a .339 average and .437 on-base percentage in 35 career games against the Mets.

• Earlier in the day, it was announced that Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes, who pitched Monday night, would play for Team USA in next year's World Baseball Classic.

• For those of you scoring at home (Howie?): two changes from Monday night. Ke'Bryan Hayes' ninth inning single was changed to a fielder's choice, and Francisco Lindor's ball in the bottom of the frame orginially called an error was changed to a hit after video reviews showed the ball took an odd bounce off second base.

• The three-game series concludes Wenesday night with Clay Holmes facing Bailey Falter.

  
  

Turning Point:

Pirates starter Mitch Keller was cruising through the seventh inning, having allowed only four hits -- only two after the first -- and after two quick outs, appeared to be a candidate to take the mound in the eighth, having thrown only 94 pitches. But then Brett Baty hit a Keller changeup just over the orange line in left field for a home run, regaining the lead for the Mets.

Three Keys:

Taking the Fork in the Road

Kodai Senga, throwing his ghost fork more than 40 percent of the time (much more than usual) , pitched in and out of trouble, with Pirates on third base and less than two outs in the second, third and fourth innings. Senga left with two outs in the sixth after throwing 102 pitches -- leaving with (you guessed it) men on second and third. Thanks to Reed Garrett's wildness, walking the first two batter he faced and forcing in a run, Senga's ERA ballooned to 1.22, but it did represent the 16th consecutive start in which he has allowed two runs or less.

Ekeing Out A Win

While Reed Garrett was shaky comng into relieve Kodai Senga, Max Kranick and Ryan Stanek, who both have had some recent shaky outings, were dominant in the seventh and eighth. Kranick retired the side on eight pitches, and Stanek, while giving up a single, blew away Pirates batters. Both needed to prove to manager Carlos Mendoza that they could be relied on in crucial situations, and both passed the tests with flying colors.

Channeling Armando Benitez

Edwin Diaz, pitching the ninth in a save situation for the first time in a week, made things interesting, to say the least, but in the end he bent but did not break. After Henry Davis flied out to right, Diaz then walked Adam Frazier and forgot about him as Frazier stole second. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa hit a ball to shortstop that Francisco Lindor had trouble gripping on rhe wet field, throwing wildly to first. Again, Diaz didn't really hold Kiner-Falefa close, and the Pirates shortstop stole second easily, once again giving Pittsburgh two runners in scoring position with less thsn two out. But then Diaz bore down, striking out Brian Reynolds and getting Joey Bart to ground out to second, securing his ninth save.

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