Mets score early, often against Quinn Priester to beat Pirates

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, the scoreboard told the story.

The New York Mets scored at least one run in each of the first six innings Monday night, a feat that happened against the Pirates for only the eighth time since 1901 and the first time since 2016.

The Mets tagged Pirates rookie right-hander Quinn Priester for six runs, including a pair of home runs, in five innings to cruise to a 7-2 win Monday night at CitiField.

Priester wasn’t sharp in allowing seven hits and three walks while throwing a career-high 102 pitches. He has given up 29 earned runs and surrendered seven homers in six starts for the Pirates since being promoted on July 17.

“It comes down to execution,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “Whether it’s trying to do too much with a pitch or just realizing that he cannot miss in the middle in the big leagues, either way, it’s execution-based.”

The Pirates staked Priester to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, when Bryan Reynolds drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on a Ke’Bryan Hayes single and scored on Henry Davis’ two-out single to center. Hayes, who batted .409 with a 1.389 OPS over the seven-game homestand, went 2 for 5 with an RBI double.

The Pirates almost scored another run when the Mets made a pickoff play for Davis at first. With Davis caught between the bases, Hayes sprinted home and slid in safe but the run didn’t count because Davis was called out for running out of the baseline to avoid first baseman Pete Alonso’s tag.

After being ejected from the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader against Cincinnati for arguing calls, Shelton spoke with crew chief Dan Bellino to ask about whether the run should have counted.

“Henry went out of the baseline, which I’m not arguing that at all,” Shelton said. “What I was asking, the way the rule reads, there has to be an attempt to tag there. In my opinion, there was not. But it’s not a reviewable play. Dan Bellino did a great job. In our estimation, Pete just didn’t try to make a tag there.”

The Mets tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the first when Brandon Nimmo hit a leadoff single and scored on Alonso’s double to the left field corner. They took a 2-1 lead in the second when designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach hit a 1-2 sinker 411 feet to left-center for his ninth home run.

Connor Joe doubled to start the third and Hayes drove in him in with an RBI double down the left field line to tie it, 2-2. Jack Suwinski drew a walk and Endy Rodriguez reached on an error by Carlos Carrasco to load the bases, but Carrasco struck out Alfonso Rivas to escape the jam.

Where Carrasco was inefficient, giving up four hits and three walks while throwing 88 pitches in three innings, he recorded five strikeouts and allowed only two runs.

“In two innings, we were one pitch away from blowing the game wide open,” Shelton said. “A two-out ball in the gap and, all of a sudden, we’re talking about a different game.”

Priester had no such luck, as the leadoff batter reached base on four of his five innings. The one exception came in the third, when Francisco Lindor hit a one-out single, advanced to second on passed ball and to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Jeff McNeil’s two-out single to left to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.

“We had probably too many teachable moments,” Shelton said. “We had a bunch of them overall, in different situations.”

The Mets increased their advantage in the fourth, when Jonathan Arauz hammered a 1-2 fastball over the middle 394 feet to right field for a two-run homer to make it 5-2. Lindor doubled to start the fifth, stole third and scored on McNeil’s sacrifice fly to left to give the Mets a 6-2 lead.

“Just mis-execution, plain and simple,” Priester said. “We had two outs a lot of times and I just wasn’t able to make that last pitch.”

The Pirates turned to Osvaldo Bido in the sixth, but he didn’t immediately stop the bleeding. Nimmo hit a two-out solo shot 387 feet to left-center for his 16th home run to stretch the Mets’ lead to 7-2.

Where the Mets used five relievers over the final six innings, Bido saved the Pirates’ bullpen by throwing 53 pitches to cover the final three innings one day after pitching the 10th in the second game of the doubleheader. It was the first time Bido pitched in back-to-back days, and the starter showed that he could handle a bulk relief role.

“Bido saved us,” Shelton said. “We were in a situation coming off the doubleheader and we were beat up in the bullpen. The fact that he went out and the first time he’s ever pitched back-to-back and maintained his stuff … it’s an interesting thing that we can talk about.”