Spotlight was on Walker in Mets’ series
The spotlight was squarely on Neil Walker on Tuesday when the New York Mets played the Pirates in a doubleheader at PNC Park.
It marked the second baseman’s first visit since the Pirates traded him last Dec. 9. Adding to the storyline was that Walker grew up in the North Hills, was the Pirates’ first-round draft pick in 2004 from Pine-Richland High School and had spent his entire career in the organization.
However, the pitcher the Pirates acquired from the Mets for Walker stole the show. Left-hander Jon Niese pitched seven scoreless innings to beat his former team 3-1 in the opener of the twinbill.
Niese made 177 starts in eight seasons with the Mets. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he became just the third pitcher in the last 20 years to pitch at least seven scoreless innings in his first start against a team for which he made at least 150 starts.
Hall of Famer Randy Johnson did so in 1999 for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Seattle Mariners. Roy Halladay duplicated the feat in 2010 for the Philadelphia Phillies against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Mets managed just two runs in the doubleheader as the Pirates also won the second game, 3-1.
That gave the Pirates nine straight win over the Mets before the streak was snapped Wednesday night with a 6-5 loss. During those nine games, the Mets scored a total of just 14 runs.
There have been just three other matchups over the last 10 years in which one team won nine straight against another and allowed no more than 14 runs — the Phillies against San Diego Padres in 2010-11, the Chicago Cubs against the Mets in 2014-15 and the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Padres in 2015-16.
The Pirates have done it just one other time in the last 50 years, in 1992 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
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Pirates closer Mark Melancon had quite the doubleheader as he pitched perfect ninth innings in both games for saves.
Melancon joined Joe Gibbon as just the second Pirates reliever since the save rule went into effect in 1969 to have saves in both games of a doubleheader and retire each batter he faced.
On Aug. 10, 1969, against the Padres at San Diego, Gibbon had a one-out save in the first game and a two-out save in the nightcap to save wins for Dock Ellis and Steve Blass.
The last major-leaguer to perform the feat was the Kansas City Royals’ Greg Holland, who threw a pair of 1-2-3 ninths on April 21, 2013, against the Boston Red Sox.
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It was if the Pirates channeled a nightmarish past last Sunday when Tony Watson gave up a game-winning home run to Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, whose two-run blast in the eighth inning turned a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 victory.
Pujols hit his 30th career homer at PNC Park while making his first visit since 2011, his final year with the Cardinals before signing with the Angels as a free agent.
Pujols made his major league debut in 2001. The only visiting major leaguer who has more home runs at a venue in that time is Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, who has gone deep 40 times at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and 31 times at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.