Dickey, Mets outlast Bucs, win 3-2

The starters for both teams, James McDonald and R.A. Dickey, each mowed down the other team’s batsmen for seven innings. With the score tied 1-1 going into the eighth, it was the Mets bullpen that held up a little better than that of Pittsburgh, and New York pulled away with a 3-2 win.

With one out in the eighth and Pirates reliever Juan Cruz on the mound, Mike Baxter lifted a line drive deep into center field that just barely eluded the grasp of Andrew McCutchen. Baxter reached second base with a double, and the next batter, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, worked out a walk to force Pittsburgh to pitch to David Wright.

Although Cruz was able to strike out Wright, Lucas Duda was up next and on a 2-0 pitched he hit a line drive off the glove of first baseman Garrett Jones and into right field. Baxter hustled around to the plate to give the Mets a 2-1 lead, and Nieuwenhuis made it all the way to third.

Of course, one run leads are rarely enough to hold back Mets opponents these days, so with Chris Resop coming on to replace Cruz, Daniel Murphy was up in a big spot. Murphy came through by hitting a sharp grounder to third that was misplayed by Pedro Alvarez. By the time Alvarez recovered, Murphy was safe at first and Nieuwenhuis had come home to put the Mets up by a pair.

Thanks to Dickey being replaced by pinch hitter Andres Torres at the start of the eighth inning, Jon Rauch now had to come on to try to preserve the lead. Jose Tabata ripped a double to right field with one out, but Rauch got the next batter Josh Harrison on a short grounder to the catcher Mike Nickeas. That brought the dangerous McCutchen to the plate as the tying run, and his broken bat blooper got away from a hustling Daniel Murphy to bring home Tabata and bring the Bucs within one.

Pedro Alvarez came to the plate next, and Terry Collins made the easy decision to bring in the ultimate lefty Tim Byrdak. Although McCutchen did a great job to steal second and get into scoring position, Byrdak struck out Alvarez on a high fastball to end the threat.

It’s too bad that the Mets couldn’t add any more runs in the ninth, but Frank Francisco made that a moot point by retiring Pittsburgh in order to end the game.

Turning Point: The big two-out hit by Lucas Duda that brought in the go-ahead run turned out to be the biggest play in this game. Back in the second inning, Mike Nickeas had a clutch base hit to give the Mets a 1-0 lead, but that run was cancelled out by Pittsburgh in the sixth when Harrison tripled off of Dickey and McCutchen tied the game with a sac fly.

Game Ball: The pitching by both sides was masterful. Well, at least by the starters it was. Dickey gets the game ball for his seven innings with a career high 11 strikeouts, no walks and just the one run allowed. McDonald deserves mention as well for his eight strikeout, two walk performance.

Next Game: The rubber game of this series takes place tomorrow afternoon at 12:35. Jon Niese will pitch for the Mets against Pittsburgh’s Charlie Morton.