Pirates swept by Mets following 7-3 defeat

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently executed a four-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, but it all came full circle following a 7-3 Sunday defeat to the New York Mets which resulted in the Buccos now being on the wrong end of the sweep.

The Pirates were in a hole from the beginning, as starter Johan Oviedo gave up three runs across the first two innings, including walking home a run in the second inning. He finished with a line of four innings pitched, giving up three earned runs off of five hits, four walks and six strikeouts.

The Buccos had their only real good news of the day when Oneil Cruz hit a three-run golf shot in the sixth inning to tie the game. It was Cruz’s 17th homer of the year. He would also hit a double to finish 2-for-4 as your only multi-hit Bucco.

But Pittsburgh would fall apart in the eighth inning on a combination of poor relief pitching and bad fielding, giving up four runs in the frame between Robert Stephenson, Manny Banuelos, and Duane Underwood Jr. to reach your final 7-3 tally.

In another example of the futility of this season, the Bucs finished the game with almost as many errors (4) as hits (5), having another one of those games where they were pretty bad in all three phases.

Rodolfo Castro had two errors, and Jason Delay and Cruz had one apiece.

The Buccos are now off today, but they will return to action on Tuesday against another of the league’s top teams, when they make the quick jump from Queens to the Bronx to take on the New York Yankees.