Mets All Buc'd Up as Mets Swept in Pittsburgh

Pirates 12 Mets 1 (PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA)

Mets record: 48-37

Mets streak: Lost 3

L10: 3-7

WP - Carmen Mlodzinski (2-5)

LP - Frankie Montas (0-1)

Seat on the Korner: Oneil Cruz

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.

And on a day like this, there’s no shortage of candidates. Frankly, it felt like even a few of the PNC Park ushers and hot dog vendors contributed to the Mets’ misery. But when the dust settles, this day belongs to Oneil Cruz. The towering Pirates centerfielder went 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs, launching two no-doubt home runs that echoed off the Allegheny like cannon fire. His first-inning shot, a 2-run blast, left the bat at 112.1 mph and traveled 398 feet. He added another missile in the 7th inning, clocked at 101.1 mph, for his 14th and 15th homers of the season. On a day when the Mets were bludgeoned from every angle, Cruz would’ve earned a hearty handshake from Ralph himself — who, it’s worth noting, hit 301 of his 369 career homers in a Pirates uniform. Ralph knew all about Pittsburgh power. This weekend, so did the Mets.

Need to Know

• Despite playing for the Reds and Brewers , Frankie Montas has made just one career start vs. Pittsburgh: May 5, 2019 – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 6 K.

• Mike Burrows made his seventh start of the season with Pittsburgh,Burrows was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 11th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Waterford High School (Waterford, Connecticut).  Burrows is currently rated as the Pirates’ No. 13 prospect, according to Baseball America (No. 15, according to MLB Pipeline)...Burrows has been a top-30 prospect for Pittsburgh, per Baseball America, in every preseason since 2020.

• According to Elias, this is the first time in franchise history that the Mets had four players each with at least 15 home runs, before the end of June: Soto (19), Alonso (18), Lindor (16) and Nimmo (15).

• The Pirates are now 15-11 against the National League East (13-3 at home)

• The Pirates 43-34 all-time against the Mets here at PNC Park.

• The Mets were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and left 6 runners on base in the game.

• Travis Jankowski pitched the bottom of the eighth and didn’t fare much worse than Lovelady or Nunez, surrendering two runs on two hits and a walk — not bad for an outfielder moonlighting as a reliever.

  
  

Turning Point

Talk about an early turning point, this one came five batters in ; after Adam  Frazier’s lead off liner found Pete Alonso's glove, Andrew McCutchen walked, Bryan Reynolds lashed a double to right, prompting a mound visit that seemed to settle Frankie Montas. When Spencer Horwitz’s rocket died in Brett  Baty’s glove for the second out, it looked as if Montas might Houdini his way out of a second‑and‑third jam. Instead, he doubled down on his breaking stuff—five straight sliders/sweepers to Ke’Bryan Hayes, who was batting just .169 off four‑seamers this year— and the fifth, an 85‑mph slider at the knees, was served off the end of the bat up the middle for a two‑run single. With confidence in a free fall like the ’07 Mets in late September. Montas grooved a first‑pitch heater to Oneil Cruz (two‑run blast) and a get‑me‑over to Tommy Pham (solo shot). In the space of three batters, a clean inning became a crater, and the Mets were staring up at a 5–0 mountain.

Three Keys

When Hitting with RISP, Becomes RIP

The Mets had been coming through in the clutch earlier in the week, going a combined 5-for-14 (.357) with runners in scoring position in their two wins over the Braves (3-for-6 on Wednesday and 2-for-8 on Thursday). But the bats have gone cold in Pittsburgh. Over the last three games, the Mets are just 2-for-20(.100) with runners in scoring position and have stranded 22 men on base. Mark Vientos had a chance to get the Mets back in the game struck out leaving two men on in the 5th.That kind of futility has been a major reason the Pirates were able to pull off the sweep — the Mets simply couldn’t deliver when it mattered most.

DFA vs. DFA — The Maddest Matchup of All

In a bullpen showdown straight out of Mad Magazine’s Spy vs. Spy, it was DFA vs. DFA — a slapstick reminder of just how maddening the Mets’ reliever roulette has become. Richard Lovelady, DFA’d by the Mets just days ago, was re-signed to a major league deal by the very same Mets and activated today, because apparently no bad idea is ever truly gone in Queens. Lovelady, who once said, “You can call me Dicky,” now feels like the bullpen version of the old Raymond J. Johnson Jr. bit: “You can call me DFA’d, or you can call me optioned, or you can call me waived, or you can call me returned, or you can call me activated — but you doesn’t hasta call me reliable!” Meanwhile, the Pirates countered with Genesis Cabrera — yes, that Genesis Cabrera — who began the year flaming out in Syracuse, got DFA’d by the Mets, DFA’d again by the Cubs, and somehow signed with the Pirates on June 26. And on this day, the Book of Genesis read smoother than anything in the Mets’ bullpen bible: Cabrera tossed a clean inning (1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K), while Lovelady coughed up five hits and two runs in two innings, bloating his ERA to a comic 13.50. Cabrera’s isn’t pretty at 5.59, but next to Lovelady’s stat line, it’s Sandy Koufax. In the most Mets twist imaginable, the bullpen involved two guys they DFA’d in the past month — and the one they kept was the one who burned them.

The Curse of Daniel Vogelbach

Of course this happened. The Pirates, one of the most punchless offenses in baseball for most of the season, suddenly morphed into the ’27 Yankees the moment the Mets rolled into town — and wouldn’t you know it, Daniel Vogelbach is now a special assistant to their hitting department. Yes, that Daniel Vogelbach. The one who was a frustrating, molasses-slow DH during his Queens tenure and left fans wondering how a man with a .219 career average could look so out of breath walking to the on-deck circle. Hired by Pittsburgh back in February, Vogelbach hadn’t been heard from in months — until the Pirates’ bats suddenly exploded for three straight games scoring 30 runs, like they were fueled by rage, Red Bull, and a Big Dan pep talk. It’s enough to make you wonder if his first act as hitting assistant was simply whispering, “Hey guys… it’s the Mets.” Call it karma. Or, in Vogelbach’s case, Chicken Karmesan. Whatever you call it, the Mets just got Vogelbached — extra crispy.