Pirates pound 16 hits, including 4 home runs, in another blowout win over Mets to sweep series

The Pittsburgh Pirates discovered the perfect antidote for their offensive woes in the New York Mets, as the team that tied a major-league record for most consecutive games without scoring more than four runs (26) unleashed its greatest offensive output in the PNC Park era.

The run production came from a trio of hitters who were scuffling: Oneil Cruz snapped out of a slump to crush a pair of two-run home runs, Henry Davis had a career-best four hits to boost his batting average by 29 points and above the Mendoza Line and Ke’Bryan Hayes had a three-hit game that included two doubles.

The Pirates pounded 16 hits, including four doubles and four home runs, to cruise to a 12-1 win over the Mets on Sunday afternoon before 24,898 at PNC Park and sweep their three-game series in dominant fashion. With a 9-1 win Friday and a 9-2 win Saturday, the combined 30 runs were the most scored in a series by the Pirates this season.

“It always feels good to win a series against any team,” Cruz said, flashing a wide smile. “But when it’s a sweep, it feels really good.”

It marked the first series of three games or more since 1999 that the Pirates scored at least nine runs in every game. They beat the Colorado Rockies by scores of 11-8, 9-8 and 9-8 from Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Coors Field. And it was only the third time in franchise history the Pirates won each game in a series by at least seven runs — the other instances came in 1893 and 1935, respectively — and the plus-26 run differential is tied for the fourth most in a three-game series in club history.

The Pirates went 4 for 11 with runners in scoring position Sunday and batted .400 (16 for 40) with RISP in the Mets series.

“It would be awesome if we could get up like that all the time, but it’s been fun playing in the one-run games, too,” said Pirates manager Don Kelly, whose team is 23-12 when scoring four or more runs and 15-18 in games decided by one run. “You feel that pressure, and that’s the way, as we continue to grow, continue to get better and earn that respect like we talked about, we’re going to play in a lot of those close games.

“We have really good pitching, and seeing the offense come around is great, but to get the experience playing in those one-run games is great experience for us. If we’re taking a vote, I think we’d vote for the larger margin wins, but the close games are fun, too.”

It was the second sweep of the season by the Pirates (35-50), who took a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies from June 6-8. The Pirates have won five of their past seven games heading into a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals to finish the homestand.

The Pirates scored five runs against Mets right-hander Frankie Montas in the first inning. After Andrew McCutchen drew a one-out walk and Bryan Reynolds drilled a double to right, Montas got Spencer Horwitz to line out to third and was one strike from escaping unscathed.

Instead, Hayes hit a 2-2 slider for a bloop single to shallow center to score both for a 2-0 lead. That opened the floodgates once again, as the Pirates continued their offensive assault on the Mets.

Cruz doubled the advantage when he crushed a first-pitch cutter 398 feet to right field for his 14th home run. Three pitches later, Tommy Pham followed with a 356-foot solo shot to right for a 5-0 edge.

“We’re best whenever we’re fighting, we’re taking our singles, taking our walks,” said Hayes, who went 3 for 5 with two RBIs. “I just tried to just slow it down even more once I got to two strikes and was able to put it in play, and (Cruz) came up and hit the two-run home run. Being able to jump out in front 4-0 to start the first inning after beating them how we did the first two games, that helped out a lot with today, and we were able to keep it going throughout the whole game.”

The Pirates added another run in the second, when Davis singled to right, advanced to second on an Adam Frazier single and scored on a sacrifice fly by McCutchen to the left-field corner to make it 6-0.

“It was awesome to go up early six like that,” said Pirates starter Mike Burrows, who allowed one run on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts only four days after pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief at Milwaukee. “It gave us everything we needed, so I just went back out and kept pounding the zone.”

Burrows kept the Mets scoreless through four innings, punctuated by winning a 10-pitch at-bat against Mark Vientos by getting him swinging at a full-count curveball for his fifth strikeout.

When Burrows left a first-pitch slider over the middle for Luis Torrens, the Mets catcher sent it 388 feet to right-center for a solo home run to cut it to 6-1. That prompted the Pirates to bring in lefty Genesis Cabrera, who finished off the side. Carmen Mlodzinski (2-5) pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win.

The Mets pulled Montas after he allowed six runs on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts over four innings, only for Reynolds to send lefty Richard Lovelady’s 0-1 sweeper 421 feet to center for his 10th home run. Hayes doubled to the North Side Notch, then scored on Pham’s two-out single to left to make it 8-1.

Hayes hit his second double with one out in the seventh, setting the stage for Cruz to produce his second multi-homer game of the season when he connected on a 1-1 changeup for a 366-foot blast to right for a 10-1 lead. Cruz hit a pair of solo shots in a 6-5 win over Milwaukee on May 23.

The Pirates added two more runs in the eighth, when the Mets resorted to using a position player on the mound. Outfielder Travis Jankowski loaded the bases by giving up a single to Davis, hitting Frazier with a pitch and a single to McCutchen. Davis scored when Jankowski walked pinch hitter Alexander Canario, and Horwitz drove in Frazier with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 12-1.

“It was real fun,” Hayes said. “Anytime you can just blow teams out, especially at this level — I mean, it’s hard enough to get wins but whenever you’re able to do it like that and everyone’s getting hits, everyone’s throwing well — it feels good as a team.”