Pirates 3, Mets 2: Pleasant surprise

J.A. Happ did not win over very many fans in the Steel City after making his team debut against the Chicago Cubs on August 4th. Happ struggled greatly against the Cubs, allowing 4 earned runs on 9 hits in just 4.1 innings of work. So, when Happ took the hill on Friday for an important game with the NL East leading New York Mets at Citi Field, many Bucs fans held their breaths, expecting the worst and hoping for the best. Happ gave the fans and his teammates his best, going 5.1 innings and allowing just 1 earned run on 7 hits and striking out 7. Although Happ received a no-decision, he was a winner in the eyes of the Pittsburgh faithful and his peers, and due to his efforts, he is my choice for game MVP.

The Bucs did not take long to get on the board, as Neil Walker, who was just the 2nd batter of the game hit his 12th homerun of the season off of Bartolo Colon, giving the Bucs a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 3rd, Happ ran into trouble. It looked like Happ might add to the worries of Bucs fans when he allowed a Juan Lagares single, followed by a Curtis Granderson double to start the inning. But Happ did a masterful job, striking out Yoenis Cespedas, getting Juan Uribe to pop out and, finally, striking out Daniel Murphy to amazingly escape the inning allowing no runs to cross.

In the bottom of the 6th, Happ had his only blemish of the night by allowing a Cespedas homerun, the 20th of the season for the newly acquired Met outfielder. After allowing a double to Daniel Murphy, Clint Hurdle pulled Happ in favor of Jared Hughes, marking the end to an impressive night for J.A. Hughes got out of the 6th and also pitched a scoreless 7th, keeping it at 1-1. The score would remain the same through 9 innings of play, meaning that the game would have to go to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Chirs Stewart led off with a single, bringing up pinch-hitter Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli and Starling Marte, who was pinch-running for Stewart executed a perfect hit and run, with Cervelli hitting a single to left field and Marte, who was running on the pitch, getting to 3rd, making it 1st and 3rd with nobody out.

 Gregory Polanco was up next, and he would drive a single to right field, giving the Bucs a 2-1 lead. This was my nomine for play of the game, as it was the go-ahead run and was a perfect set up to what would eventually be the winning run. After Neil Walker grounded out, moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd, Mets manager Terry Collins decided to walk Andrew McCutchen intentionally, loading the bases for Aramis Ramirez. Ramirez would hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Cervelli from 3rd and making it 3-1.

The insurance run would prove to be vital, as Mark Melancon would allow the Mets to get one back in the bottom half of the 10th on a sacrifice fly by Curtis Granderson. But Melancon would bear down to get the next 2 outs for his 36th save of the season, sealing a huge win for the Bucs.

Arquimedes Caminero got the win after pitching a scoreless 9th, improving to 3-1 on the year, while Bobby Parnell got the loss out of relief for the Mets, falling to 1-2. Pittsburgh now has a record of 67-46, still 6 games back of St. Louis in the NL Central and 1.5 games up on the Cubs for the 1st wildcard spot. Charlie Morton is on the hill tonight for the Pirates at Citi Field, while Jonathon Niese will oppose him for the Mets. First pitch is at 7:05.