Pittsburgh Pirates top New York Mets in ninth
By Cory Buck
The Pittsburgh Pirates continued to feast on the NL East with a comeback 5-3 victory over the New York Mets. Gaby Sanchez lead the way with an 8th inning solo home run that cut the Mets lead in half.
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That was only the beginning of Pittsburgh’s victimization of reliever Jose Valverde that not only lead to a Pirate victory, but to Valverde being cut from the team.
Brandon Cumpton took the mound for the Pirates after being recalled from the team’s Triple-A club, sending Wandy Rodriguez down in the process. Cumpton gave up only one earned run to the Mets in the fifth inning. New York’s second run in the same inning scored on a throwing error by Josh Harrison. The Pirates were relentless though, biding their time until they managed to get to reliever Valverde.
The win was Pittsburgh’s fifth in their last six games. After having sunk to eight games below .500 at one point, Pittsburgh now stands at 23-27 with plenty of time to continue their ascent in the NL Central. It’s a slow go in the majors, but as long as the team can continue to feast on equally sub-.500 teams like the New York Mets, there is plenty of hope yet for last year’s Cinderella playoff team.