Chris Bassitt strikes out 10 to help lift Mets to win over Pirates

PITTSBURGH – Chris Bassitt became a hero for the Mets on Wednesday by steering the rotation back on its expected course with quality and length.

If not his best performance of the season, it might have been Bassitt’s biggest given the team’s recent play. Bassitt fired seven strong innings in carrying the Mets to a 5-1 victory over the Pirates in Game 1 of a split doubleheader at PNC Park.

The Mets entered the nightcap with a half-game lead on the Braves in the NL East, after snapping a three-game losing streak in which Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker failed to pitch beyond the fifth inning.

Early homers from Tyler Naquin and Eduardo Escobar accounted for most of the Mets’ scoring, leaving Bassitt with a comfortable lead to protect against these last-place Pirates.

The right-hander allowed one earned run on five hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk, departing after 101 pitches. Seth Lugo followed with two scoreless innings in relief.

Naquin – starting in right field a day after Starling Marte was drilled by a pitch on the right hand and departed the game – blasted a three-run homer in the fourth inning against Bryse Wilson that gave the Mets a 4-0 lead. The homer was Naquin’s fourth since arriving from the Reds on July 30.

Daniel Vogelbach singled and Mark Canha was bit by a pitch to start the rally. After Naquin homered, Escobar followed with another, extending the Mets’ lead to 5-0. The back-to-back homers were a fifth-time occurrence for the Mets this season.

Pete Alonso’s double from the No. 2 hole in the batting order (he was moved from cleanup with Marte absent) helped the Mets take a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Jeff McNeil’s sacrifice fly. Brandon Nimmo led off the game with a single and scored the run.

Bassitt didn’t dent until the sixth, when he surrendered an RBI single to Tyler Heineman that pulled the Pirates within 5-1. Greg Allen doubled leading off the inning and Rodolfo Castro later walked, but Bassitt escaped further damage by retiring Jack Suwinski to leave two runners stranded.