Brett Baty hit a tie-breaking homer in the seventh inning Tuesday night for the host New York Mets, who continued surging with a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Baty’s homer made a winner of Max Kranick (3-1), who threw a perfect seventh. Ryne Stanek tossed a one-hit eighth before Edwin Diaz earned his ninth save by wriggling out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth with strikeouts of Bryan Reynolds and Joey Bart.
Mets starter Kodai Senga gave up one run on six hits and two walks while striking out seven over 5 2/3 innings. Senga’s ERA rose to 1.22. The Mets have won the first two in the three-game series and six of their last eight overall.
Henry Davis worked a bases-loaded walk in the sixth for the Pirates, who fell to 2-3 under Don Kelly since he took over as manager for the fired Derek Shelton last Thursday. Pirates starter Mitch Keller (1-5) retired 18 of 21 batters following Brandon Nimmo’s first-inning RBI double before the streaking Baty homered to left with two outs in the seventh. Baty has six hits — including four homers — in 17 at-bats since he was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on May 5.
Baty was the lone Mets player with two hits Tuesday. Juan Soto and Mark Vientos each singled. Soto stole second before scoring on Nimmo’s double.
The Pirates stranded six baserunners from the second through the fourth, during which they advanced a runner to third with fewer than two outs three times but never scored. Pittsburgh finally broke through in the sixth when Alexander Canario’s two-out single and Jared Triolo’s double chased Senga. Reliever Reed Garrett then walked Ji Hwan Bae and Davis to make it 1-1.
Canario and Ke’Bryan Hayes had two hits each.
Keller took the hard-luck loss after giving up two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out a season-high eight over seven innings.
–Field Level Media
