A day after the Pittsburgh Pirates took one on the chin in extra innings against the New York Mets, Henry Davis returned the favor.
Davis drove in the winning run with a single in the 10th inning, then tagged Francisco Lindor at home plate to preserve the lead as the Pirates beat the Mets, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.
It was the first win of the season for the Pirates (1-2), who prevented a three-game sweep in the process.
“In the win column,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “We’ll take that any time.”
The Mets won Saturday on Luis Robert’s three-run walk-off home run, but the Pirates built a cushion Sunday by scoring two runs in the 10th.
Ryan O’Hearn, who went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, hit a leadoff single through the middle off Richard Lovelady to score automatic runner Bryan Reynolds from second base for the go-ahead run in the 10th inning. Jared Triolo grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Lovelady walked Nick Yorke and Nick Gonzales and Davis singled to center to drive in pinch runner Billy Cook to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead.
With Mets automatic runner Francisco Alvarez at second, Jose Urquidy walked Lindor. Juan Soto doubled to left-center to score Alvarez, but Oneil Cruz hit shortstop Triolo for the cutoff, and Triolo’s throw beat Lindor to the plate. Lindor tried to slide under Davis’ tag, only to take a mitt to the face while being called out at home.
The Mets challenged the call, but, after a review, there was no violation of the home plate collision rule and Lindor was ruled out. Kelly called it a “big play” for Davis to move to the other side of the plate, pick Triolo’s one-hop throw and block Lindor’s path to the plate.
“Henry made a heck of a pick and a tag,” Kelly said. “He did a good job getting in. I can see maybe why they challenged it, but the throw took him in there. For him to be able to slide over, still maintain that composure and pick a short hop and get the tag down, it was a phenomenal play.”
Soto advanced to third on Bo Bichette’s groundout to short, but Jorge Polanco’s fly ball to the warning track in right field was caught by Cook against the wall.
Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski had a career-best eight strikeouts without a walk while allowing two runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He threw 55 of his 85 pitches for strikes, drawing six of his 18 called strikes and half of his eight whiffs with his four-seam fastball.
Mlodzinski struck out the top of the Mets’ order of All-Stars Lindor, Soto and Bichette in the first and third innings.
“Great stuff, especially the way he went after the top of their order,” Kelly said. “The curveball and the split were equalizers for him. When he can stay in the zone with those and the fastball, he’s tough.”
Five Pirates relievers combined for eight more strikeouts, as they finished with 16 total while allowing nine hits and only two walks.
Mets starter Nolan McLean also had eight strikeouts in five innings but struggled with command early. After walking Cruz and Brandon Lowe back-to-back in the first inning, O’Hearn hit a bloop fly to left to drive in Cruz for a 1-0 lead to extend his hitting streak to an MLB-best 12 games, dating to last season.
The Mets tied it in the second when Luis Robert singled to left, advanced to third on Brett Baty’s single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Marcus Semien.
Lowe gave the Pirates the lead again when he sent McLean’s 2-2 fastball 396 feet to right-center for his third home run. Lowe homered twice on Opening Day, so he became the first player in the National League to reach three homers this season.
The key for Mlodzinski was getting through the order a second time without damage, given that opponents batted .226 against him the first time through and .358 the second time last year.
It was the third time through that Mlodzinski ran into trouble. Lindor hit a gap shot to right-center that ricocheted off the wall for a triple, and Soto singled to right to drive in Lindor to tie it at 2-2. That was it for Mlodzinski, who was replaced by Yohan Ramirez. He got Bichette to ground out, then struck out Polanco to finish the frame.
Lefty reliever Mason Montgomery got himself into and out of a jam in the seventh. Luis Torrens reached on a grounder to third, and Lindor followed with a single to right then both runners advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. But Montgomery recovered to finish with strikeout of Soto on a 99.5-mph fastball and Bichette on a 100.2-mph heater.
A day after going 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position and leaving 17 on base, the Pirates fell flat on chances for additional runs through the first nine innings. They left 10 on base, going 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position and stranding them at second in the third, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
“Over the course of the season,” Kelly said, “that’s not going to be good enough.”
After Davis drew a leadoff walk against Luke Weaver in the ninth, Jake Mangum laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position. Lowe drew another walk, but Reynolds grounded into a forceout to end the frame.
Dennis Santana pitched in the ninth for the third consecutive game, retiring the side in order and finishing with a strikeout of pinch hitter Jared Young to force extra innings.
“What a battle, the last two innings especially,” O’Hearn said in an on-field postgame interview with SportsNet Pittsburgh. “It feels good to get that first dub. There was no question about it that the guys battled all the way through today and yesterday. If we continue to do that, we’re going to win a lot of baseball games.”