Late comeback falls short as Pirates fall 4-3 to Mets

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost their second straight game to the New York Mets, falling 4-3 on Friday night after a late surge fell just a tad short.

The Buccos were down 4-1 in the eighth inning when Oneil Cruz launched his 16th homer of the season into the stratosphre with Tyler Heineman on base to cut the lead to 4-3.

The Bucs would look to get something going again in the ninth when Ben Gamel walked, but pinch runner Greg Allen was thrown out at second on a steal attempt after initially being safe. The play was challenged by the Mets.

Cal Mitchell almost tied the game with two outs, sending an 0-2 pitch all the way to the warning track, but alas, it was not meant to be.

On the mound, Mitch Keller got the start, and he wasn’t terrible, though also not as efficient as he’s been in recent weeks. He finished with six innings pitched, giving up three runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He did give up a solo homer in the fourth to former Pirate Daniel Vogelbach and took the loss to fall to 5-11 on the season.

There were no multi-hit Buccos, as the Pirates only finished with five total hits on the night.

Pittsburgh will look to get back into the win column with another round against the Mets tonight in Queens.