The Pirates beat the Mets, 14-2, on Friday night in Pittsburgh (see box score here), though some may say the win looked even bigger. The Pirates ended up hitting seven home runs, two of which were grand slams, and rookie starting pitcher Paul Skenes was outstanding again.
Let’s start with the Pirates’ offense. As mentioned above, the Pirates hit seven home runs, the most in a season for any team. The only time a team hit more than five home runs this season was when the Athletics hit six against the Marlins on May 4. This was the fourth time the Pirates franchise has hit a home run in the seventh inning, the previous time being on May 26 last season. The Pirates also hit seven home runs in a game in 2003 and 1947.
The MLB record for team home runs in a single game is 10, set by the Blue Jays on September 14, 1987. Ernie Witt had three, and Lance Mullinix and George Bell each had two. But back to the 2024 Pirates.
The game saw seven home runs, including a grand slam by Bryan Reynolds.
…and Rowdy Teres:
Both players hit two home runs in the game, Reynolds had six RBI and Telles had five. Other players with home runs were Jack Swinski, Michael A. Taylor and Yasmani Grandal.
Meanwhile, it tied the Mets’ franchise record for most home runs allowed, having allowed seven in a single game in 1967, 1998, 2017 and 2018.
The Pirates’ late offense somewhat overshadowed another outstanding performance from rookie sensation Skenes, who finished with a 4-2 lead after giving up four hits and two runs over seven innings with eight strikeouts.
In 10 career starts, Skenes is 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 78 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings.
