Through the first six frames, the Pirates had collected just three hits and trailed 2-0. But in the seventh the bats came alive against Chris Capuano. Pittsburgh batted around and collected seven hits (all singles) while posting five tallies to take control of the game.
The Mets took the lead in the fourth off of Kevin Correia. Three singles loaded the bases with two outs. Ruben Tejada delivered the clutch two out knock, scoring Carlos Beltran and Daniel Murphy. Tejada’s ball might have been caught by Neil Walker, but he misplayed it allowing it to fall in.
Capuano was cruising until that fateful seventh. Andrew McCutchen led off the inning with an infield single, with Daniel Murphy’s throw to Capuano covering the bag off target. Neil Walker’s bunt down the third base line also went for a single. Matt Diaz reached on yet another infield single, this one back to Capuano. Pittsburgh loaded the bases without hitting a ball out of the infield. Chris Snyder also reached on an infield single, this one to Tejada at short. That scored McCutchen to make it 2-1. Lyle Overbay’s liner into center was almost caught by Angel Pagan. It too fell in and the Walker scored the tying run. That prompted a pitching change. Pedro Beato came on. After Ronny Cedeno whiffed, pinch hitter Xavier Paul delivered the first clean hit of the inning, a single to right that scored Diaz with the go ahead run. Jose Tabata beat out the throw on an infield grounder that saw Paul forced at second and Overbay score to make it 4-2. Josh Harrison delivered a two out infield grounder that went for a single and scored the final run of the inning, making it 5-2. McCutchen, who started the inning, struck out to end it.
The Pirates tacked on four more runs in the eighth. Brandon Wood, Overbay, Paul and Garret Jones contributed RBI while Mets skipper Terry Collins used three pitchers – Beato, Michael O’Connor and Dale Thayer – to try to keep it close. But it was too late.
Correia picked up his eighth win on the season. He allowed two runs in six innings. He gave up six singles, walked two and struck out four. Capuano was the loser. He was charged with five runs on eight hits in six plus innings. He struck out two and walked one.
The Good
17 road wins in 2011 equals the total from 2010.
The offense caught some breaks and took advantage of them with nine late runs.
Correia.
McCutchen had three hits. Diaz, Paul, Walker and Overbay each had two hits.
The Bad
Daniel McCutchen struggled again. He allowed a solo homer to Justin Turner and a double to Jason Bay in the eighth and was pulled for Daniel Moskos.
The Rest
This was the 21st time that McCutchen gathered three or more hits in a game and his fourth three hit game of 2011.
Capuano is now 3-7 against Pittsburgh. Correia is 2-3 against the Mets.
Chris Snyder is now 5-7 with three walks against Capuano.
This was just the third time in the last 26 games the Pirates score eight or more runs.
Pittsburgh starters have allowed more than three earned runs just three times in the last 25 games. The Pirates are 12-13 in that span.
