The Pirates dipped into their bullpen, but it was the Mets who found relief.
Helpless against Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones, the Mets broke through against the opposing bullpen and rallied for a 3-1 comeback win at Citi Field on Tuesday night.
The Mets (9-8) are above .500 for the first time and have won a fourth straight series even before Wednesday afternoon’s finale against Pittsburgh arrives.
The Mets had not tallied more wins than losses since June 3, 2023, when Buck Showalter was in charge and Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer led the rotation.
The 2024, apparently comeback-kid Mets have seemed to pick new heroes each night through the current hot streak, and Joey Wendle, Reed Garrett, Jorge Lopez and Drew Smith stood out Tuesday night.
The Mets were down by one and had collected one hit through six innings before Wendle helped them crack through with an unorthodox, three-run seventh.
With Jones strangely out of the game after five efficient innings, the rally started against righty Luis Ortiz.
A Francisco Lindor walk and Pete Alonso single brought up Wendle for his first at-bat, only in the game because Brett Baty exited with left hamstring tightness.
Wendle smacked an RBI double down the left-field line to tie the game.
Lefty Jose Hernandez entered to face Jeff McNeil, but he balked in the go-ahead run before throwing his first pitch.
His fifth pitch was an outside fastball that McNeil threw his bat at, guiding it down the left-field line for an RBI double and a two-run cushion that the Mets’ bullpen held.
Jose Quintana was effective if inefficient over five, one-run innings and passed the baton to a bullpen that did not have Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino and Brooks Raley available, all having pitched the previous two days.
The alleged underbelly of the bullpen was outstanding. Garrett was excellent, striking out the first four batters he saw. He got in and out of trouble in the seventh, when the Pirates put runners on the corners, but Garrett struck out Bryan Reynolds on a splitter and pumped his fist coming off the mound.
Lopez faced the heart of the Pirates’ order in a perfect eighth before Smith recorded his fourth career save with a scoreless ninth.
The Mets’ “B” bullpen totaled four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk with nine strikeouts.
The victory came despite being thoroughly dominated for five innings by Jones, a 22-year-old who has been lights out for his first four major league starts.
The Mets’ lone chance — and hit — against Jones arrived in the second inning when Alonso reached on a leadoff double that was assisted by left fielder Bryan Reynolds, who dove for the catch, whiffed and allowed the ball to skip past him.
Baty’s ground out sent Alonso to third, but Jones used a pair of nasty sliders to strike out Francisco Alvarez and McNeil.
Jones did not reach a two-ball count, throwing 50 of his 59 pitches for strikes.
Yet, the rising star was pulled after five innings without an injury announcement in an apparent workload concern.
Jones had pitched 6 ¹/₃ innings on 85 pitches in his previous start.
The Mets, though, were not complaining about the Pirates’ hook.