Mets rally with 4-run 8th to sweep Pirates, who set strikeouts record

Oneil Cruz accomplished a rare feat when he crushed a leadoff double off Jacob deGrom in the first inning, though it merely marked the start of deGrom’s dominance.

The New York Mets ace recorded a season-high 13 strikeouts in retiring the next 15 batters before Cruz came to bat in the sixth inning and changed the course of the game with one swing.

Cruz hit a tying, three-run homer to knock deGrom out of the game, but the Pirates continued to strike out at a record pace and failed to produce another run.

Brandon Nimmo drove in the go-ahead run with a single to spark a four-run eighth inning as the Mets beat the Pirates, 7-3, on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field to sweep the four-game series.

The Pirates struck out 20 times, setting a club record and matching the major league record for a nine-inning game. The Pirates had 21 strikeouts in a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia in 14 innings on Sept. 22, 1958.

“He threw the ball really well,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of deGrom on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “Oneil had good swings off him, and he gave us a chance to get back in the game.”

After battling back to tie the score, the Pirates fell apart in the eighth.

Tomas Nido started it with a single off Robert Stephenson, who then was replaced by lefty Manny Banuelos. Pinch runner Terrance Gore stole second and advanced to third on catcher Jason Delay’s throwing error, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.

Nimmo dropped a bloop single into shallow left to score Gore for a 4-3 Mets lead, to the same spot Nimmo had an RBI single to drive in the go-ahead run in Friday’s 4-3 win over the Pirates. After Banuelos walked Jeff McNeil, Duane Underwood Jr. walked Pete Alonso to load the bases with one out.

Daniel Vogelbach singled to center to score Nimmo and McNeil for a 6-3 lead. Mark Canha grounded into a would-be double play, but Cruz dropped Rodolfo Castro’s throw, the Pirates’ fourth error of the game. Alonso scored on Eduardo Escobar’s groundout to make it 7-3.

“We didn’t handle the bottom of the order,” Shelton said, “and we didn’t throw the ball over the plate, and we have to do that.”

The game started with Cruz smashing a full-count fastball 391 feet to right-center for a leadoff double. It was only the second time deGrom allowed a hit to the leadoff batter in the first inning this season. Both came by Cruz, who singled to lead off the second game of a doubleheader Sept. 7 at PNC Park. Cruz is one of three players to record multiple leadoff hits against deGrom, joining Dee Strange-Gordon (three) and B.J. Upton (two).

Instead of serving as the start of a Pirates rally, deGrom struck out five in a row and nine of the next 10. Through the first five innings, deGrom recorded 13 strikeouts, becoming the first pitcher to do so since Max Scherzer on May 6, 2018, for Washington in a 5-4 win over Philadelphia.

Of deGrom’s 13 strikeouts, seven came on four-seam fastballs, five on sliders and one by changeup, with three on full counts and two looking at called third strikes. His fastball drew 16 called strikes and eight whiffs, while his slider drew eight whiffs and two called strikes.

“He’s one of the best at locating where he wants to throw the ball,” Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “Sometimes, you’ve just got to tip your cap. We had a lot of strikeouts. … He’s one of those guys where if he’s on, nobody in the world is going to hit him.”

Meantime, the Mets got a leadoff single by Nimmo, who advanced to second on Castro’s errant throw, reached third on Francisco Lindor’s groundout to short and scored on McNeil’s single to right for a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Benches cleared after Alonso took exception to being hit by a Johan Oviedo pitch. It wasn’t their first clash: Oviedo hit Alonso on May 5, 2021, while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals. Oviedo walked Vogelbach to load the bases but got Canha looking at a called third strike and Escobar to pop up to third.

Oviedo wasn’t so fortunate in the second inning, when he walked Luis Guillorme and surrendered back-to-back singles to Nido and Nimmo. McNeil drew a bases-loaded walk for a 2-0 lead, and Nido scored on Alonso’s forceout at second for a 3-0 Mets lead.

While Oviedo gave up five hits and four walks, he also had six strikeouts and stranded six runners in four innings before being replaced by Wil Crowe in the fifth.

While ringing up the Pirates, deGrom ran up his pitch count. He showed signs of tiring in the sixth when he gave up back-to-back singles to Zack Collins and Delay, who fouled off five times in a nine-pitch at bat.

“The big at-bat there was Delay,” Shelton said. “Delay continued to foul balls off, foul balls off and then dumps a ball in. Collins starts it off, but Delay’s at-bat was huge. Early in the game, we got into deep counts. Even though there were strikeouts, we got him to 3-2 and made him use pitches.”

Cruz took deGrom’s 101st pitch, a 2-2 slider, for a 389-foot ride to right center for a game-tying three-run home run. It marked the first time in three years that deGrom gave up a homer with two or more runners on base, since Chicago Cubs catcher Victor Caratini hit a three-run homer on Aug. 29, 2019. Per Elias Sports Bureau, Cruz became only the 11th player to hit a double and a homer in the same game against deGrom, joining the likes of Juan Soto, Buster Posey and Bryce Harper.

The strikeouts didn’t stop with deGrom. Seth Lugo got Mitchell looking, and Joely Rodriguez struck out the side in the seventh and got Cruz and Bryan Reynolds looking in the eighth. Hayes hit a two-out double to right-center off Trevor May in the ninth before Jack Suwinski went down looking at a called third strike to end the game.

“I give our guys credit, man,” Shelton said. “We’re talking about one of the best pitchers of our generation, and they battled and put ourselves in a spot when he had really good stuff to tie the game.”