If the season opener were about the Mets’ offensive liveliness, the follow-up was about mere survival.
Access the Mets beat like never beforeSurviving all those Pirates base runners. Surviving an infield defense that looked as inexperienced as it is. Surviving first against Mitch Keller, who looks poised to take a leap, and later against a Pirates bullpen that would not budge.
Surviving a squibber that just would not go foul. Surviving the elements that come with playing baseball in New York in March. On a frigid and windy day that kept players and bats cold, the Mets gasped for nine quiet innings, found just enough life to keep the game going into 11 innings and then received the jolt of a swing they had long sought. Luis Robert Jr. stepped into a Hunter Barco slider and crushed it over the wall in left-center for a three-run walk-off homer in the 11th to ignite those freezing fans who remained. In the second game of the season, the Mets did what they so seldom did last year — come from behind late in a game — and pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Pirates. On a day for blankets and hoods, 37,183 in Citi Field saw the Mets improve to 2-0.The offense that parlayed repeated lengthy at-bats into an 11-run outburst Thursday was silenced and finished with just six hits — three before extra innings. A defense that looked sharp Thursday prompted far more questions in Game 2, when Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco looked like a new third baseman and first baseman, respectively. But David Peterson, Huascar Brazobán, Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley and Devin Williams combined for nine scoreless innings in which they stranded 12 on base. Luis García and Richard Lovelady allowed just unearned runs in extra innings. The Pirates stranded 17 on base and went 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.How 2026 pursuit of elusive World Series rings can bolster three Mets, Yankees’ Hall of Fame candidacies The swing turned Lovelady from a hard-luck loser into the winner. In the top of the inning, Lovelady had retired two and was on the verge of escaping with a runner on third. But Bryan Reynolds barely made contact and hit a dribbler down the third base line. The Mets hoped it would go foul, but it hugged the grass down the line and allowed Jake Mangum to score the go-ahead run.After the Pirates went ahead in the top of the 10th on an RBI single from Nick Gonzales, the Mets mounted a rally that tied it up. Marcus Semien was drilled, a pinch-hitting Mark Vientos singled and Luis Torrens knocked a hit into left field to drive in a run and load the bases without an out. But two consecutive ground balls from Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto — Soto’s was an excuse-me swing that produced a swinging bunt that was well played by pitcher Hunter Barco, who barehanded and tossed home — created outs at the plate. When Bo Bichette flied out, the Mets had wasted a bases-loaded, none-out potential rally.New York Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. hits a walk-off-home run during the 11 inning when the New York Mets played the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Citi Field in Queens, NY.Peterson came through with the kind of performance that was reminiscent of his All-Star first half last year rather than second-half nosedive. He was not perfect, allowed plenty of hard contact and eight base runners — not all his fault, the Mets’ corner-infield projects looking very much like projects — but Peterson at his best limits damage.Against Peterson, the Pirates went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, consistently flirting with a breakthrough that never arrived. The Pirates threatened with two on, one out in the third inning, but Peterson induced a pair of flyouts from Jared Triolo and Ryan O’Hearn.New York Mets pitcher Devin Williams gets out of the ninth inning when the New York Mets played the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Citi Field in Queens, NY.New York Mets Pitcher David Peterson throws in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Queens, NY.It was two on, none out in the fourth — in part because a throw across the diamond from Bichette pulled Polanco off first base — before a Nick Gonzales strikeout, Brandon Lowe fielder’s choice and Nick Yorke groundout. The trouble escalated in the fifth, when Peterson loaded the bases with two outs for Mets killer Marcell Ozuna, but the former Brave swung at an 0-2 fastball — that was thrown down the middle — and popped it up. Peterson received an assist for his final bit of danger avoidance. A Pirates rally started with Gonzales hitting a hard ground ball that took a bad hop and swallowed up Polanco for what was ruled a single before a one-out single put a pair of runners on base. Mendoza turned to Brazobán, who struck out Joey Bart on three pitches and induced a frame-ending groundout from Mangum.New York Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. hits a walk-off-home run during the 11 inning when the New York Mets played the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Citi Field in Queens, NY.New York Mets pitcher Devin Williams gets out of the ninth inning when the New York Mets played the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Citi Field in Queens, NY.New York Mets Pitcher David Peterson throws in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Queens, NY. 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