Pittsburgh Pirates vs. New York Mets: What to Expect

The Pittsburgh Pirates wrap up the first half of the 2021 season when they head to New York for a four-game season against the Mets. It is a battle between two teams on the opposite end of the spectrum heading into the All-Star Break.

After a series win against the Atlanta Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates have won three of their last five games and sit at 32-54 with four games to go before the all-star break. They are hoping to end the first half of the season with some momentum on their side, but to do that they will have to head out on the road, a place that hasn't been too kind to them this season. On the road, the Pirates have a record of 13-29 and both their team batting average (.225) and ERA (5.37) are significantly worse away from PNC Park. Add that with the fact that the Pirates are taking on the leaders of the National League East, and on paper, it looks like a recipe for disaster.

It will be the first match-up of the year between the Pirates and the New York Mets, and the Pirates are looking to once again affect the NL East standings. After taking two of three from the Braves, the Pirates helped the Mets build a 4.5 game lead in the NL East and pushed the Braves into third place. Now, the Pirates are hoping to return the favor and knock the Mets down a notch or two before they break for the All-Star game. In total, there are three all-stars who will compete in this series, Bryan Reynolds and Adam Frazier for the Pirates and Jacob DeGrom from the Mets. Today, we look at what to expect as the Pirates try to show that they can play with some of the best talents that the NL East has to offer.

Scouting The Mets

The New York Mets enter the series on a hot streak having won four of their last six games. They just took two out of three from the Milwaukee Brewers and the New York Yankees led by what has been a high-powered offense. The Mets have scored four or more runs in all four wins, and over their last seven games, they are hitting .257 and are scoring 31 runs during that span. They haven't been doing it with power, but by hitting singles and taking their extra bases. Of the 53 hits the Mets have had over the past seven days, 40 of them have gone for singles, six were doubles, and six were home runs. They were scoring runs by moving first to third on hits and taking their extra bases any chance they could.

Leading the way for the Mets as of late has Dom Smith, Brandon Nimo, and Jeff McNeil. All three batters are hitting over .300 over the past seven games, and have been picking up the slack for the struggling guys like Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor. Smith has had the best stretch of games hitting .381 with three home runs and seven RBI over those seven games. Smith has at least one hit in all but one game so far in July, and his biggest performance came against the Yankees on July 3rd when he went 3-5 with three RBI. The Mets pitchers have been good over the last seven games, with a 3.50 ERA, but it has been the offense that has run the show on this current hot streak.

Ride The Hot Bats

Over this current stretch of 20 games in 22 days, the Pittsburgh Pirates have gotten some big performances, mostly from unlikely sources. Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds have been consistently good, but guys who were finally given some opportunities have come through. Two of those guys who have been hot as of late are Ben Gamel and newly acquitted John Nogowski. For Gamel, ever since the calendar turned to July, it is like a switch flipped that allowed Gamel to do no wrong at the plate. Gamel is currently riding a six-game hitting streak and is hitting an incredible .436 in the month of July. While he didn't start on Sunday, he still got a hit, coming through with a pinch-hit single in the seventh to load the bases.

The other hot bat has been recently acquired first baseman, John Nogowski. Nogowski was received in a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals and has been on a tear since joining his new team. Since coming to the Pirates, Nogowski has gone 7-12 (.538) in his first three games with an RBI. He just nearly missed his first Major League home run in game two of the series with the Braves and has been a spark to the middle of the lineup. He ended the Braves series on a high note, going 4-5 with four singles and a scoreless inning of work in the team's 14-3 loss. If the Pirates are to be successful in this series with the Mets, they need to ride the hot bats that have carried them lately and score their team some runs.

Pitching Stride For Stride

Heading into this series with the Mets, the Pirates are about to face some of the best pitching they have seen all season. Not only is Jacob DeGrom supposes to pitch the finale, but over the last seven games, Mets pitchers have posted a combined 3.50 ERA. Overall, the Mets have the third-lowest ERA in all of baseball at 3.35 and have allowed the fewest runs in all of baseball with an average of 3.6 runs per game. For a Pirates offense that has struggled for most of the season, that is not a recipe for a lot of run support. This means that the Pirates pitchers are going to have to be ready to go toe-to-toe with some of the best pitching they have seen all season.

The guy looking to set the tone is JT Brubaker, who had a great start to the season but has come back down to Earth a little bit. After posting a 2.63 ERA in April, Brubaker has come back and had an era over 4.00 in both May and June. In his last start, he was tagged for five earned runs over 6.0 innings of work against the Milwaukee Brewers and took his eighth loss of the year. Following Brubaker will be a starter to be announced on Friday, Tyler Anderson on Saturday, and Chase De Jong on Sunday. With the bullpen starting to show signs of fatigue, it is imperative that these guys work deep into games and give the Pirates a chance to win. It isn't going to be easy, but this Pirates staff is tasked with going pitch-for-pitch with one of the best staffs in baseball.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (32-54) get ready to wrap up the first half of the season with a four-game weekend set against the New York Mets (45-38) tonight at 7:10 pm. JT Brubaker (4-8, 4.09) is looking for a bounce-back effort on the mound for the Pirates as he faces Taijuan Walker (7-3, 2.44) for the Mets. You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet, listen on 93.7 The Fan, or follow along with us on Twitter by following @Buccos_Cove.

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