Pirates' farcical defense hands game to Mets, 8-7
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The Mets' Ike Davis slides safely into home after the Pirates' Chris Snyder fails to catch third baseman Pedro Alvarez's throw in the fourth inning Wednesday at Citi Field. -
Pirates shortstop Ronny Cedeno goes over the top of the Met's Ruben Tejada after Tejada was called out during the eigth inning. -
The Pirates' Pedro Alvarez scores a double hit by John Bowker in the fourth inning. -
The Mets' Ike Davisscores on an error by Pirates catcher Chris Snyder during the fourth inning. -
Pirates pitcher Daniel McCutchen walks back to the mound after allowing a home run from the Mets' Jose Reyes in the sixth inning of Wednesday's game at Citi Field in New York. -
The Pirates' Paul Maholm pitches against the New York Mets. -
Mets outfielder Angel Pagan is unable to catch a triple hit by the Pirates' Pedro Alvarez. -
Mets catcher Henry Blanco is unable to tag the Pirates' Chris Snyder, who scored on a single hit by Andrew McCutchen in the fourth inning. -
The Pirates' Chris Snyder leaps to avoid being tagged out at the plate by Mets catcher Henry Blanco on an RBI single by Andrew McCutchen during the fourth inning. Snyder missed the plate in his leap and was forced to dive back, but Blanco dropped the ball on the play, allowing the run to score.
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NEW YORK -- On the bright side, only 17 games remain.
That offers a little more than a couple weeks for the Pirates to pitch poorly, drop a 50-foot toss to home plate, muff a grounder, miss a cutoff man and ... well, just about everything else they did in a farcical fourth inning that cost them an 8-7 loss to the New York Mets Wednesday night at Citi Field.
Game: Pirates vs. New York Mets, 7:10 p.m., Citi Field.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: RHP Charlie Morton (1-11, 9.05) vs. RHP Mike Pelfrey (14-9, 3.89).
Key matchup: In seven career plate appearances vs. Pelfrey, Andrew McCutchen is 3 for 5 with two walks.
Of note: The Pirates have scored three or fewer runs 92 times, most in Major League Baseball, and are 15-77 in those games.
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"It was terrible. Inexcusable. Embarrassing," catcher Chris Snyder said.
And he was just talking about his play.
Paul Maholm was spotted a 5-0 lead in the top of that fourth inning, with a four-run outburst highlighted by Pedro Alvarez's RBI triple, John Bowker's RBI double and Andrew McCutchen's two-run single. That was more than the offense had produced in the previous three games.
But, before Maholm could record three more outs, it was a 7-5 deficit, thanks in large part to a series of cringe-worthy misplays that doled out five unearned runs.
"We didn't pitch well, and we didn't play good defense," manager John Russell said. "It got away from us."
After one out in the bottom half, Maholm gave up back-to-back singles, followed by Ike Davis' RBI double smashed just past a backhand try by second baseman Neil Walker.
That was a tough play.
"I would have liked to have gotten it," Walker said. "Went over my glove."
A walk and a Mike Hessman single, the latter followed by Bowker harmlessly overthrowing the cutoff man, and it was 5-2.
Then, the big one: Ruben Tejada bounced sharply to a charging Alvarez, who fired accurately to Snyder home from just 50 feet away for what should have been a routine forceout. But Snyder, whose fielding percentage over the past three years has been the best of any catcher in Major League Baseball, allowed it tick off his glove and carom to the backstop. Two runs scored.
That was the second time Snyder failed to catch an infielder's throw in a week, including the 12th-inning drop of shortstop Ronny Cedeno's flick on a forceout attempt that lost the game Friday in Cincinnati, 4-3.
"Guy's leading baseball in fielding, drops the ball at the plate ... I think that shocked everybody," Russell said.
First Published September 16, 2010 12:22 am
