Matt Harvey can't stop Pirates, who beat Mets 3-2

The Pirates beat Mets 3-2 Sunday afternoon despite the the start by phenom Matt Harvey.

Harvey didn't have his best stuff, and the Pirates did just enough to take advantage. Lucas Duda hit a solo homer off Jeanmar Gomez in the second, but Clint Barmes homered in the third to tie the score. (Barmes' only two homers this year have come off Harvey and Stephen Strasburg.) With one out later that inning, the Pirates loaded the bases on two walks and a single. In what's become a familiar pattern, they only got one more run out of it, on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Jones, but at least they had a 2-1 lead against one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Gomez left the game after five innings with calf tightness -- he had been hit by a ball off the bat of David Wright in the first. Vin Mazzaro and Justin Wilson handled the sixth, but in the seventh, Wilson walked John Buck, who came around to score on a single by Mike Baxter. Baxter then stole second and third. It wasn't Michael McKenry's best game in the run-prevention department, as he also allowed a stolen base to the very slow Buck in the second. But Wilson struck out Juan Lagares and Justin Turner to keep the game tied.

Scott Rice and Brandon Lyon each allowed two walks in the eighth, though, and Pedro Alvarez singled home a run to put the Bucs up 3-2. In the bottom of the inning, Mark Melancon allowed a double to Daniel Murphy, who moved up on a passed ball. Later in the inning, Duda hit a grounder that bounced high off the first-base bag and toward a ready Brandon Inge, who got the ball to Melancon at first to end the threat. Jason Grilli pitched a perfect ninth for the save.

After winning their last three against the Mets, the Pirates are now 21-16, three games behind the Cardinals.