 in the third and added a solo blast to right-center in the fifth. DeGrom (4-1) became the first Mets starter to get an out in the eighth inning since last June, pitching 8 1/3 innings and giving up a run with 10 strikeouts and one walk. DeGrom also had two of New York's 12 hits. Gregory Polanco returned from the disabled list to collect two of Pittsburgh's six hits, including a solo home run in the fourth. Kuhl failed to make it past the fifth inning for his seventh consecutive start. He gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings and hasn't won since beating Atlanta on April 8. The Pirates shipped the popular Walker to the Mets in exchange for pitcher Jon Niese rather than sign Walker to a contract extension. The weekend series marked his second return trip as a player to the place where he grew up, and he certainly looked at home in his former ballpark. Walker gave the Mets a 3-0 lead when he lofted Kuhl's offering into the first row of seats over the 21-foot-high Roberto Clemente Wall in right field in the third. Two innings later, he went out even deeper to right for his 500th career RBI. It also marked the fourth multihomer game of Walker's career and his first in 425 games at PNC Park. It was more than enough for deGrom, the lone consistent bright spot for New York's messy starting rotation. He improved to 4-0 in his last six starts and lowered his ERA to 3.23. Fernando Salas got the final two outs for New York, and the Mets ended a franchise-record run of 26 consecutive games using at least three relievers. Noah Syndergaard was the only Mets starter to pitch at least 7 1/3 innings in a game in 2016, doing so June 15 against the Pirates. New York had 12 such outings in the regular season on its way to the World Series in 2015. Time may be running out for Kuhl to stay in Pittsburgh's rotation. His ERA sits at 6.29 after struggling to handle New York's heavily left-handed lineup. Lefties came in hitting .333 against Kuhl this season, and seven of the eight hits he allowed were to left-handed batters. MOVING ON DOWNThe Pirates bumped slumping star Andrew McCutchen from third in the lineup to sixth, the first time in his career the five-time All-Star hit below fifth. Pittsburgh is hoping the move will help kickstart McCutchen, who was benched for the final two games of a series in Atlanta and entered Friday hitting just .203 on the season and .163 in May. McCutchen went 1 for 4 to bump his average to .205. METS MOVESNew York sent struggling Rafael Montero to Triple-A Las Vegas and called up right-hander Tyler Pill. Montero is 0-4 with an 8.24 ERA and gave up three runs in three innings of a loss to San Diego on Thursday. Pill is 3-1 with a 1.96 ERA in Triple-A this season. To make room for Pill on the 40-man roster, New York moved pitcher Seth Lugo from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. TRAINER'S ROOMMets: OF Yoenis Cespedes (left hamstring strain) went 0 for 2 with a walk and a run scored in a rehab appearance for Class A St. Lucie. Cespedes played six innings in left field before being removed. ... LHP Steven Matz (elbow inflammation) is scheduled to make a rehab start for Triple-A Las Vegas this weekend. Lugo (right elbow) will make a rehab start for Double-A Binghamton this weekend. UP NEXTMets: Zack Wheeler (3-2, 3.74 ERA) will try to keep his hot May going on Saturday. Wheeler is 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in three starts this month. This is his first career start against Pittsburgh. Pirates: Gerrit Cole (2-5, 3.36 ERA) is 1-1 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts at PNC Park this season. Cole gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings on Monday against Atlanta.----More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Time: 7:05 PM EDT Venue: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15212 PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates' offense looks to keep improving, but Pittsburgh has a tough draw in New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom for the opener of a three-game series on Friday at PNC Park. The Pirates, who are 13th in the National League with a .233 batting average, have been held back by below-average offensive production all season, but that trend might be reversing. Pittsburgh, averaging 4.23 runs, broke out with 12-5 and 9-4 wins over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The offensive surge was driven by a number of factors. The Pirates got some production with the long ball, hitting six home runs over the four-game series split with the Braves, their high in a series this season. They also have some players back from injury. Adam Frazier and David Freese both came off the disabled list May 12 after recovering from hamstring strains. Frazier is hitting .442 with 10 RBIs in the leadoff spot since his return. Outfielder Gregory Polanco, who also has been on the DL due to a hamstring strain, will rejoin the starting lineup Friday after being reinstated Thursday. The Pirates have also seen some of their more established players start to break out of early-season funks. John Jaso is hitting .236 in May after seeing his batting average bottom out at .143 on the first of the month. Francisco Cervelli has also brought his numbers around, hitting .283 in May after posting a .203 mark in April. Even so, it might be tough sledding Friday against deGrom (3-1, 3.56 ERA). The Mets fireballer is averaging 12.29 strikeouts per nine innings -- the best mark in the NL and the third best in baseball. Through four starts in May, deGrob is averaging eight strikeouts and has three wins and two no-decisions in his last five starts. It'll be a test of strength versus strength as the strikeout-averse Pirates have been fanned only 19 percent of the time -- third-lowest in the majors. DeGrom has made four career starts against the Pirates and is 0-2 with a 2.49 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings. The Mets pushed deGrom's start back a day because of rain that turned out to be a steady mist Thursday. The team was going to have to use a spot starter at some point this week because Tommy Milone is on the disabled list with a sprained left knee. With weather threatening in Queens on Thursday, manager Terry Collins went with Rafael Montero as a spot starter in order to make sure deGrom would be available for a full outing. New York wound up losing 4-3 to the San Diego Padres." One thing we didn't want to have to do was get him warmed up, sit him down, wait, have him pitch two innings, get to 30 pitches and then have to shut him down," Collins told MLB.com. "We're not in a situation to do that right now. We were struggling for a pitcher on Saturday anyway, so we decided to push him back a day." The Mets will be looking for some length from deGrom to help out the stretched-out bullpen, which won't have the services of Montero to start the series. Chad Kuhl (1-4, 5.85 ERA) will start for the Pirates. The sinker specialist is coming off his best outing of the season, when he allowed one hit in five innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. Kuhl has never faced the Mets." You're going to try to stay in good habits," Kuhl said after that start. "Sometimes you fall into bad habits without realizing it. You try and stay with it, stick with it and hammer it in the flat ground and bullpen (sessions)." The Pirates and Mets meet again next weekend in New York.
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