NEW YORK — The best news for the New York Mets during a winless weekend took place 3,000 miles across the country, where the Washington Nationals remain a lifeless mess.
The Mets fell apart in the final three innings Sunday, when the Pittsburgh Pirates scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings of an 8-1 win that completed a three-game series sweep at Citi Field.
The sweep looks lopsided, but the first two games were taut extra inning affairs — the Pirates won 3-2 in 10 innings Friday and 5-3 in 14 innings Saturday — before right-hander Matt Harvey exited with the score tied 1-1 after six innings Sunday.
The Pirates scored four runs (two earned) in the seventh, when shortstop Ruben Tejada didn’t get to second base in time to field a throw from right-handed pitcher Bobby Parnell and continue what could have been a double play. Parnell was charged with an error as well as all four runs (two earned).
“We had a terrible two innings in a row in a good weekend,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “We played very good baseball until the seventh inning of today. So we’ll move on.’
Despite the weekend-long hiccup, the Mets didn’t lose any of their 4 1/2-game lead over the Washington Nationals in the National League East. The Nationals fell under .500 after being outscored 28-12 during a four-game sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants.
The Mets will resume the pursuit of the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2006 on Tuesday, when New York visits the Baltimore Orioles for a two-game series.
“If any of you guys in this room would’ve told me on May 15th that with 44 games left in the season, we’d have a 4 1/2-game lead, I’d take it,” Collins said. “As bad as this game ended up looking, I’ll take it.”