David Bednar entered in the ninth inning of the Pirates' matchup against the Mets tonight at Citi Field trying to preserve a tie and force extra innings. However one bad hop on a ground ball to Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the ultimate decider in the 4-3 loss.
Bednar struck out Luisangel Acuña on three straight pitches before getting a ground ball from Francisco Lindor that hit the back of second base and rolled under Kiner-Falefa's glove:
Lindor moved to third on a Juan Soto single and scored the walk-off run on a sacrifice fly by Pete Alonso.
"If it doesn't hit the base, I make that play easily," Kiner-Falefa said. "Hit the base. Down the line, third base, hits a base, usually it's a hit. I just felt bad because it cost Bednar the loss, so that was obviously tough for me. But it hit the base. There's nothing I could have done about it. It's a hit."
The Pirates also committed mistakes in the seventh that allowed the Mets to score twice and take a 3-2 lead. After Caleb Ferguson hit Tyrone Taylor in the foot, he was late to cover first base on Acuña's ground ball to Matt Gorski. That allowed Taylor to reach third and score when Soto grounded out to first base. Alonso then drove home the go-ahead run off Colin Holderman on a ground ball that kicked off Ke'Bryan Hayes' glove and into center. Kiner-Falefa attempted to catch Acuña at home, but Henry Davis missed the tag
"Tough inning there," Don Kelly said. "Got some infield stuff going on and they scratched those runs across. Brought Colin in and he got a ground ball from Alonso, just kicked off Key's glove. It’s a game of inches."
Through their first 42 games, the Pirates have given up 60 earned runs in the seventh inning or later, which ranks 24th in Major League Baseball and is seven more runs than the average. The offense has been just as bad in that same situation as they've scored 46 runs, which ranks 26th and is 14 below the major-league average.
The Pirates only have three comeback wins all season, are 2-5 when they are tied after the seventh and are 0-22 when trailing in that situation. Tonight, the writing was on the wall.
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
4:24 am - 05.13.2025NEW YORKGoing Deep: Kiner-Falefa's 'tough' error
David Bednar entered in the ninth inning of the Pirates' matchup against the Mets tonight at Citi Field trying to preserve a tie and force extra innings. However one bad hop on a ground ball to Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the ultimate decider in the 4-3 loss.
Bednar struck out Luisangel Acuña on three straight pitches before getting a ground ball from Francisco Lindor that hit the back of second base and rolled under Kiner-Falefa's glove:
Lindor moved to third on a Juan Soto single and scored the walk-off run on a sacrifice fly by Pete Alonso.
"If it doesn't hit the base, I make that play easily," Kiner-Falefa said. "Hit the base. Down the line, third base, hits a base, usually it's a hit. I just felt bad because it cost Bednar the loss, so that was obviously tough for me. But it hit the base. There's nothing I could have done about it. It's a hit."
The Pirates also committed mistakes in the seventh that allowed the Mets to score twice and take a 3-2 lead. After Caleb Ferguson hit Tyrone Taylor in the foot, he was late to cover first base on Acuña's ground ball to Matt Gorski. That allowed Taylor to reach third and score when Soto grounded out to first base. Alonso then drove home the go-ahead run off Colin Holderman on a ground ball that kicked off Ke'Bryan Hayes' glove and into center. Kiner-Falefa attempted to catch Acuña at home, but Henry Davis missed the tag
"Tough inning there," Don Kelly said. "Got some infield stuff going on and they scratched those runs across. Brought Colin in and he got a ground ball from Alonso, just kicked off Key's glove. It’s a game of inches."
Through their first 42 games, the Pirates have given up 60 earned runs in the seventh inning or later, which ranks 24th in Major League Baseball and is seven more runs than the average. The offense has been just as bad in that same situation as they've scored 46 runs, which ranks 26th and is 14 below the major-league average.
The Pirates only have three comeback wins all season, are 2-5 when they are tied after the seventh and are 0-22 when trailing in that situation. Tonight, the writing was on the wall.
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