The Pirates offense continues to sputter while the pitching remained sharp. James McDonald pitched eight shutout innings, but the Pirates were unable to break through and were beaten by New York in ten innings.
Dillon Gee and McDonald both prevented any runs from scoring. Pittsburgh had some chances. They wasted a lead off double in the fourth from Garrett Jones (and left the bases loaded) and wasted a one out double from Jose Tabata in the fifth. McDonald also danced out of some trouble. Gee led off the third with a double and was sacrificed to third. But McDonald got Angel Pagan and Carlos Beltran without any damage and went on to retire 10 straight Mets batters.
Neither pitcher was around for the end. Andrew McCutchen led off the tenth with a double. But he was erased at third on Jose Tabata’s attempted bunt. For the Mets in the tenth, Ruben Tejada doubled off Chan Ho Park. Nick Evans followed with a walk off pinch hit single.
That made a winner of Hisanori Takahashi. Park got the loss. McDonald pitched eight shutout innings. He allowed five hits and two walks. He struck out four. Gee went six shutout innings. He gave up four walks and five hits. He whiffed three.
The Good
Have to be happy with Bucco starters of recent vintage.
Jones had two hits.
Chris Snyder threw out two runners trying to steal.
The Bad
Neil Walker’s hitting streak ended at 18 games. He was 0-3 with a pair of walks.
Continued, perpetual offensive struggles.
The Rest
This was Gee’s second ML appearance. He has allowed one run in thirteen innings and now has two hits. This was McDonald’s second start and sixth career appearance against New York. He came into the game with a career ERA approaching nine against the Mets and was 0-1.
This was Jones’ third multi-hit game in September. He had just two in August.
McDonald’s eight innings represent a career high.
Chris Resop had his eighth straight scoreless relief outing. He has pitched 7-2/3 innings over that span. Since being acquired from Atlanta off waivers, Resop has an era below 2.00 in 16-2/3 innings of work.
