Pirates 9, Mets 2 (6/28/25)
The Mets got six shutout innings from their pen. Unfortunately, that only took them thru the seventh inning. And the eighth was a disaster, resulting in a 9-2 loss to the Pirates Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
The game started off pretty good. The Mets scored a run on an RBI single by Juan Soto in the first inning and they had two runners on in the second inning. Then the umps called for the tarp and once play resumed, everything went south. The Mets didn’t score in the second inning and starter Paul Blackburn came back out and didn’t have it.
Blackburn left with the bases loaded, two runs in and nobody out. Jose Butto came on and allowed a sac fly but no further damage, making it a 3-1 game. Butto followed with another scoreless frame. Brandon Waddell gave three innings without a run and Reed Garrett kept the Pirates off the board in the seventh inning.
But Huascar Brazoban continued his slide, loading the bases on a hit and two walks. After allowing an RBI single, Butto was removed and newly activated Colin Poche wasn’t any better, giving up two walks and two hits. And that’s how a 3-2 game turned into a 9-2 laugher.
The Mets had 10 hits and three walks yet managed just two runs, with the second one coming in on a Brandon Nimmo RBI single in the fifth. Nimmo and Pete Alonso both finished with two hits, with Alonso adding a stolen base.
The Pirates came into the series 18 games under .500 but have beaten the Mets twice. They’ll try to avoid the ignominy of being swept, with Frankie Montas hoping to end the slide in the 1:35 p.m. start.
They are supposed to beat the Pirates. Phillies lost so it’s just another game off the schedule or at least that’s my rationale.
The Mets don’t have slump busters: difference makers. Soto is a OBP machine but as we know walks don’t do much. His clutch stat is negative. The rest mostly go with the flow. Nimmo, Taylor, Baty, Torrens…. Not a game changer among them. Then you add Marte, and that’s half the lineup.