Francisco Lindor’s grand slam Friday night capped a 10-run sixth inning outburst by the New York Mets that lifted them to a 13-4 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Mets have won four of five. The Pirates have lost eight of 11.
The teams were tied 2-2 before 10 of the first 11 Mets to step to the plate reached base against a trio of Pirates pitchers. Starter JT Brubaker (4-9) allowed a leadoff single to Brandon Nimmo and walked Francisco Lindor before Dominic Smith delivered the go-ahead RBI single. Pete Alonso chased Brubaker by hitting a three-run homer on the next pitch.
Jeff McNeil greeted Sam Howard with an infield single — the only ball the Mets put into play against Howard, who walked three and plunked one while recording just one out. Jose Peraza drew a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and Nimmo worked a walk before Lindor hit the second pitch he saw from Kyle Keller beyond the left-center field wall for his third career grand slam.
The big inning made a winner of Aaron Loup (3-0), who tossed a scoreless sixth in relief of Taijuan Walker, who gave up two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out two over five innings.
Jonathan Villar opened the scoring for the Mets with a homer from the left side of the plate in the third and capped the evening by homering into the second deck from the right side of the plate in the seventh. He’s the first Mets player to homer from both sides of the plate since Jose Reyes did so on Aug. 1, 2018.
Nimmo finished with two hits, including an RBI double in the third. James McCann also had two hits.
Michael Perez gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the second. Adam Frazier had a game-tying RBI single in the fifth, Rodolfo Castro hit a pinch-hit homer for his first big league hit in the seventh and John Nogowski added an RBI single in the ninth.
Brubaker gave up six runs on six hits and one walk while striking out seven over five-plus innings.
–Field Level Media