Pirates' Bailey Falter departs early with injury; Derek Shelton ejected in loss to Mets

Before the end of a 5-2 defeat to the New York Mets Saturday at PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates were minus both their starting pitcher and manager.

Bailey Falter was removed from the game with no outs in the third inning because of left posterior arm discomfort and is out day-to-day, pending further evaluations. Derek Shelton was ejected later in the game for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire John Tumpane.

In front of 36,009 fans, the Pirates (42-46) failed to do any offensive damage from bases-loaded opportunities in the second and seventh innings.

“We had opportunities to score,” Shelton said. “We had the two bases-loaded situations and weren’t able to capitalize on them. That’s frustrating.”

Trailing 5-2 in the seventh, pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez got aboard with a single, followed by walks to Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds, loading the bases.

After Ke’Bryan Hayes lined out to shortstop, just missing an RBI hit, pinch-hitter Jack Suwinski stepped into the batter’s box.

Suwinski worked a 3-1 count from Mets reliever Reed Garrett, but Tumpane called a down-and-away sinker strike two, negating a walk that would have scored Tellez from third.

Suwinski visibly objected to the call and took his batter’s timeout, with Shelton getting ejected soon thereafter for barking at Tumpane from the Pirates dugout.

Garrett then struck Suwinski out swinging on the next pitch, ending the inning.

“From my vantage point, I think you pretty much saw what I thought, and I should probably stay away from any further comment,” Shelton said after the game. “You guys saw it and my reaction to it. Jack never reacts. He’s probably one of the calmest guys we have.

“For him to react like that and then for the (pitch) clock to start that quick, I don’t think I was extremely happy about it, as you can tell by the tone of my voice or the raspiness of my voice right now.”

In stark contrast to the Pirates, the Mets came through in the clutch during a bases-loaded opportunity of their own.

Leading into Falter’s departure, New York had put three men aboard when Francisco Lindor and J.D. Martinez walked, with Brandon Nimmo singling.

Shelton turned to Dennis Santana to put out the fire, and by recording two quick strikeouts, he nearly did just that.

But Luis Torrens cracked a bases-clearing double to the North Side Notch, with all three runs being charged to Falter (4-7, 4.08 ERA), who took the loss Saturday and allowed five hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts.

“His cutter and slider were working,” catcher Joey Bart said of Santana. “That’s what was punching guys out. He made some good pitches, and (Torrens) took advantage of one of them that wasn’t probably where he wanted it. But we were really close there in getting out of that. The break didn’t go our way.”

After the Mets’ three-run third, the Pirates answered in the fourth, thanks to Oneil Cruz’s two-run homer that struck the top of the Clemente Wall foul pole before bouncing into the Allegheny River.

That made the score 3-2, but in the sixth, the Mets added a pair of insurance runs off Ryder Ryan, making his first appearance since May 17 after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier Saturday.

Santana pitched two innings of relief following Falter, allowing two hits. Ryan went three, giving up four hits and striking out two.

After Mark Vientos and Torrens singled in the sixth, Jose Iglesias knocked them in with an RBI double, making the score 5-2.

Josh Fleming pitched scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth for the Pirates.

In the bottom of the ninth, Cruz got aboard when two-time All-Star Edwin Diaz hit him in the foot with a pitch.

But Tellez struck out, and McCutchen hit into a game-ending double play.

With more testing and evaluations of Falter on the horizon, Shelton declined to speculate what his potential sidelining would mean for a Pirates rotation that only days ago lost Jared Jones to the injured list with a lat strain.

Said Falter: “I’m not really concerned, honestly. Coming in here tomorrow, we’ll re-evaluate and get some more news.”

Shelton said Luis Ortiz (4-2, 3.27 ERA) will start Sunday in the third of four games vs. New York.

Reynolds, fresh off a two-homer, six-RBI night at the plate Friday, went 2 for 3 with a walk Saturday.