Tyler Anderson’s arm, bat help lead Pirates to Game 1 win over Mets

After veteran starter Tyler Anderson homered in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader in Queens, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton was asked what he was seeking from his Game 2 starter.

“No, no expectations for a homer,” Shelton said. “Just throw strikes.”

Max Kranick, the starter for the nightcap, didn’t homer — and he didn’t throw enough strikes.

Thirteen days after pitching five perfect innings in his MLB debut, Kranick walked three and lasted three innings in a 4-2 loss to the New York Mets.

The defeat followed a 6-2 victory in Game 1 that snapped a three-game losing streak.

A career .087 hitter with one extra-base hit (a home run in Colorado five years ago) in 175 career plate appearances entering the game, Anderson’s fifth-inning solo homer broke a tie and gave the Pirates the lead for good in the seven-inning Game 1.

“The first thing when you take (batting practice) in spring training, guys are like, ‘You have a homer?’ ” said Anderson, who had struck out 26 times and had only a pair of singles in 33 prior plate appearances this season. “And you’re like, ‘Yeah.’ They’re like, ‘Oh, where?’ ‘Coors.’ And everyone is like, ‘Oh, of course.’ So hopefully now I can say I got one on the road somewhere else, too.”

As sweet as Anderson’s swing was on that particular Marcus Stroman cutter, his work on the mound was likely more impactful in the Pirates’ win.

Anderson (5-8) allowed five singles, no walks and a Jonathan Villar solo homer in five innings.

The Pirates had scored 46 runs in Anderson’s 16 previous starts (2.9 per outing). So, when three of the first five Mets batters singled off him, it appeared ominous. But Anderson limited the damage to one first-inning run when he struck out Villar, who also homered twice Friday.

But Anderson retired 13 of the final 16 he faced.

David Bednar worked a scoreless sixth, and Richard Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save.

The Pirates had lost their previous two games by a combined score of 27-7.

“I give credit to our guys,” Shelton said in a video conference call with media. “We had a situation where we played a close game for six innings (Friday), and the game gets broken open. That (three base-runners) happens in the first. (Stroman) looked really good through three. We came right back.”

“These guys kept getting after it, and it was really good to see.”

The Pirates similarly scratched and clawed to stay in Game 2 despite falling behind 2-0 in the first inning when Kranick was far less sharp than he was in winning his Pirates debut June 27 in St. Louis. He walked two and allowed two hits — including a Jeff McNeil two-run double — in the first inning.

Serving as the 27th man on the roster during the doubleheader, Kranick also gave up a Pete Alonso solo homer while throwing 29 balls and allowing seven runners among his 70 pitches in three innings.

“The ‘stuff’ still plays,” Shelton said. “It was just the fact that he was a little more scattered with his command.”

A native of Scranton, Kranick said his family followed the Mets and made the 2 ½-hour drive to several Sunday afternoon home games when he was a young. The 23-year-old estimated he had 30-40 friends and family members on hand Saturday at Citi Field.

“This is definitely a series that I had circled form the beginning of the year, pitching here against a team I grew up liking, definitely,” Kranick said. “This was a circled series.”

Bryan Reynolds homered in Game 1 — he had another robbed from him by a Brandon Nimmo leaping catch — and had an RBI single in the nightcap. Jacob Stallings added a solo home run in Game 2.

Kranick’s wasn’t the only early-career magic that cooled in Saturday’s nightcap. John Nogowski raised his average with the Pirates to .632 after his second hit in Game 1 gave him 12 through his first five games with the team. Nogowski, though, was hitless with two strikeouts over his final four at-bats of the day.

He hit a two-run double in the fourth inning of Game 1.

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