June 29th 2014 -- Pirates 5, Mets 2

Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pedro Alvarez hit a two run homer (13) and added an RBI double and Edinson Volquez blanked the Mets through 6, the Pirates beat the Mets 5-2.  Bartolo Colon started for the Mets and fell behind from the get go.  Former Met Ike Davis got his first hit ever against his former team in the first inning, poking an opposite field 2 run single to left  and Alvarez’s RBI double made it 3-0 after 1. In the 4^th Alvarez hit a long homer to right center to cap the Bucs scoring.  The Mets staged a mini-rally in the 9^th off Jared Hughes. Juan Lagares singled and then went to third on a double by Travis d’Arnaud. Lagares scored on a grounder by Chris Young. A bloop single by Ruben Tejada plated d’Arnaud with the Mets 2^nd run. In the loss, the Mets managed to scatter 13 hits, 8 of them off Volquez who went 6 while walking 1 and striking out 7.  Daniel Murphy had 3 hits on the day, Tejada, Eric Young Jr,  Lucas Duda and Eric Campbell each had 2 hits apiece. d’Arnaud has hit in every game he has played since his recall.  Colon went 6 innings allowing all 5 runs (earned) while allowing 7 hits striking out 2 and walking 1. He gets the loss falling to 8-6. Volquez gets the win he improves to 6-6. Mark Melanson was called upon in the middle of the ninth to stop the Met rally picked up his 15^th save.  Gonzalez Germen and Dana Eveland each tossed scoreless innings in relief. The Pirates take 3 of 4 from the Mets to start this road trip. The Mets now stand at 20-24 on the road and 37-45 overall. Next up the Mets are off to Atlanta to face the Braves Mon, Tues and Wed.  Monday night Zach Wheeler (3-8  4.45) goes for the Mets, Mike Minor (2-5  4.50) goes for the Braves.