PITTSBURGH — It was a comeback that should make the 1971 World Series champions proud, one that upstaged the fight the Pirates showed 24 hours earlier against the Mets.
It most certainly completed a magical night on the North Shore, as Jacob Stallings hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Pirates a 9-7 victory over the Mets at PNC Park.
The Pirates walked off winners in a game in which they trailed 6-0 after seven innings and didn't advance a runner to third base until the seventh. But the Pirates scored five times in the eighth and four times in the ninth for what has to be their most memorable win of the season.
Facing Mets reliever Edwin Diaz, Stallings connected on a four-seam fastball that he drove down the left-field line, the ball miraculously staying fair and obviously clearing the fence.
With their offense asleep for much of the night, suddenly in the eighth inning, the alarm went off, and the lights flicked on. John Nogowski doubled in a run. Kevin Newman beat out a double-play ball for another. Wilmer Difo smacked a pinch-hit, three-run homer. A six-run rout somehow became a close game.
Difo’s heroics might have put the Pirates ahead at that point had it not been for what third baseman J.D. Davis provided the Mets. Making his first start since May 1, Davis homered twice against Wil Crowe and drove in the first four New York runs.
Until the Pirates’ rally, it certainly looked like the focal point would be Crowe — things coming apart late, as well as his continued issues with home runs.
After Davis took Crowe deep twice, he’s now allowed 14 homers in 14 appearances (13 starts) this season.
Pitching late in games has been a problem for Crowe, the same for success when facing a lineup for the third time.
Those factors intersected when Davis drove a full-count fastball from Crowe the opposite way, into the right-field seats to give New York a 4-0 edge in the top of the sixth inning.
Crowe twirled around and craned his neck, an oh-not-again type of look from a frustrated pitcher. The emotion was understandable, too. The right-hander stayed out of the middle of the plate, but Davis put a terrific swing on the ball, driving an outside pitch with authority.
This sort of thing has also happened frequently with Crowe, who pitched into the sixth inning for just the fourth time in 13 starts this season. Far too often, Crowe’s pitch count has been elevated, forcing manager Derek Shelton to rely on his bullpen because his starter wasn’t efficient.
After first baseman Pete Alonso singled and scored on Davis’ homer Saturday, opposing hitters are batting .343 when facing Crowe for the third time in a game, including a double, a triple and four home runs.
Trailing 6-0, the Pirates answered in a big way in the eighth. Bryan Reynolds walked and Ben Gamel singled before Nogowski ripped a double to left. The former Cardinal and budding cult hero is now hitting .333 as a Pirate. Newman showed some terrific hustle to extend the inning and allow Difo to step to the plate as a pinch hitter, a role in which he has excelled this season.
Facing Mets right-hander Seth Lugo, Difo got a 2-0 change-up that Lugo left over the heart of the plate and crushed it 412 feet to right for his second homer in as many nights. It was the second pinch-hit homer of the season for Difo and the fifth for the Pirates as a team.
The early part of the game was rough for the Pirates offense, as Pittsburgh didn’t advance a runner past second base until a wild pitch from Mets reliever Trevor May gave them a pair of runners in scoring position in the seventh. However, Ke’Bryan Hayes (2 hits) struck out looking to end the frame.
A night after Chad Kuhl enjoyed two double plays in the first three innings, Crowe got the same treatment Saturday, with the Pirates turning three double plays in the first three innings.
Reynolds ran down a fly ball from second baseman Jeff McNeil in the first before doubling off Brandon Nimmo with a strong throw to first. Ground balls up the middle helped the Pirates escape trouble in the second and third before Crowe ran out of magic in the fourth.
In the fourth, Davis put an excellent swing on a sinker down in the zone, his homer to center field giving New York a 2-0 lead. Again, it wasn’t a terrible pitch from Crowe. It was more the case of Davis taking a really good swing and driving the ball.
The Mets followed Davis’ second home run with a two-run seventh. Hayes came into the game having made just two errors in 496 2/3 defensive innings, but was charged with No. 3 in the top half of the seventh.
Pinch-hitter Travis Blankenhorn made it 5-0 with his double before McNeil drove in a sixth run with his single.
