Welcome to Pittsburgh Pirates baseball in September.
The New York Mets defeated the Pirates, 4-3, on Friday night, despite a towering 429-foot two-run home run by Oneil Cruz to straightaway center field. But it wasn’t Cruz’s exit velocity — 112.4 mph for those who keep track of that — that had people talking afterward.
It was Ke’Bryan Hayes.
Mets analyst and former longtime MLB player Todd Zeile blasted Hayes for appearing to be paying little attention to game action, having his glove off and, according to Zeile, eating sunflower seeds.
Everyone was watching Eduardo Escobar dash home in the 3rd, but did you notice Ke'Bryan Hayes eating sunflower seeds during the play?@Todd_Zeile on Mets Post Game: pic.twitter.com/Ca6v75UPau
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 17, 2022
“Ke’Bryan doesn’t even have a glove on,” Zeile said on the Mets postgame show on SportsNet New York. “This is in the big leagues, and he doesn’t even have a glove on. Why doesn’t he have a glove on? Because if you watch a little longer, he’s pulling sunflower seeds out of his back pocket.
“That’s September baseball when you’re in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization right now.”
This comes exactly a month after former MLB All-Star and Boston Red Sox analyst Dennis Eckersley ripped the Pirates roster during a series at PNC Park.
“You talk about a no-name lineup,” Eckersley said. “There’s no team like this.
“This is a hodgepodge of nothingness. … It’s ridiculous. It really is. Pathetic.”
Eckersley’s comments drew widespread attention and reaction, including this from Trib columnist Tim Benz: “I mean, has there ever been a more honest, more direct, more specific disembowelment of a professional sports franchise than that?”
Zeile’s comments also have caught on.
This is embarrassing There needs to be accountability pic.twitter.com/I17Xu4fnRM
— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) September 17, 2022
Great catch by Zeile here. Can't say I've ever seen a player take his glove off and reach for sunflower seeds as runner rounds the base he's supposed to be covering. Pirates with one foot on the bus, so to speak. https://t.co/SfSyQaWQ1x
— John Harper (@NYNJHarper) September 17, 2022
Is it possible that whatever went through Ke’Bryan Hayes mind last night on that play is not an indictment of him as a player or the organization and also not the best example you want your highest profile player to set?
— Will Graves (@WillGravesAP) September 17, 2022
Or is that too rational for this platform?
The Pirates fell to 55-90 — clinching their second consecutive season with 90 or more losses (and their third in four years). They remain last place in the National League Central.
The Mets improved to 91-55 and lead the NL East.
