Mets pound Kuhl, Pirates, 8-1

Chad Kuhl got pummeled and the Pirates’ offense went back to sleep in an 8-1 rout at the hands of the struggling, injury-plagued Mets.

Kuhl got hit hard throughout. The Mets got to him for a run in the second on an RBI single by the severely struggling Curtis Granderson. In the third, Jose Reyes reached on a third strike wild pitch and some guy named Walker went deep with two out. In the fourth, Kuhl survived a pair of two-out hits, one by pitcher Jacob deGrom, when Michael Conforto lined out hard to Adam Frazier in left. Kuhl lasted only three hitters into the fifth, as Reyes tripled, Jay Bruce hit a sacrifice fly, and Walker homered again. Ostensibly a sinkerball pitcher, Kuhl got just two outs on the ground and five in the air, and allowed five extra base hits.

Following Kuhl’s exit, the Pirates unleashed their legion of marginal middle relievers. Jhan Marinez survived the remaining two-thirds of the fifth, after allowing a walk and a double, thanks to a line out. Johnny Barbato was less fortunate. He gave up three runs in the sixth on a pair of walks, a weak single by Walker and a double. And Barbato only escaped the inning on . . . a line out. That left the score 8-1. The Pirates did get two perfect innings, including three strikeouts, from Daniel Hudson.

In the meantime, deGrom dominated the Pirates. The only damage came on Gregory Polanco’s second HR of the season. The home team got two on with one out in the first and with two out in the seventh, but had nothing else remotely resembling a rally. Polanco also had a single, so there were a couple of very faint silver linings. Josh Harrison added a pair of harmless singles. DeGrom only left with one out in the ninth, having fanned ten, including David Freese four times. The struggling Fernando Salas got the last two outs, including a three-pitch whiff of Andrew McCutchen.