PITTSBURGH — No recount was needed on Stupor Tuesday for the Mets: One run plus one run equals zero victories.
The very mortal tandem of Jon Niese and Juan Nicasio were a handful for this underwhelming Mets lineup, and the result was a Pirates doubleheader sweep.
The Mets lost 3-1 in both games and will take a three-game losing streak into Wednesday’s series finale.
“It was a long day, 18 innings, a lot of emotion,” said Neil Walker, a former Pirates infielder who made his return to PNC Park. “More than anything we came away with two losses, which is a worst-case scenario.”
Overall, the Mets have lost nine straight against the Pirates, dating to 2014.
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Nicasio retired the first 12 batters he faced in the nightcap and finished with one run allowed over five-plus innings. Earlier in the day, Niese threw seven shutout innings in his first start against his former team.
Yoenis Cespedes finished hitless in seven at-bats over the two games and is 3-for-35 (.086) since May 25. But Cespedes, who returned to the lineup from a sore hip that cost him two starts, said he doesn’t feel any extra responsibility to carry the lineup.
“I’m not Superman,” he said.
Cespedes added: “I don’t think me producing necessarily means anything for the rest of the lineup if the guys ahead of me and after me can’t get on base. It doesn’t really do anything for me to just be on there on my own. I would have to hit home runs every time.”
Curtis Granderson ended the Mets’ 16-inning scoreless streak with a homer leading off the eighth against reliever Neftali Feliz in Game 1, but the rest of the lineup went quietly.
It didn’t go any smoother for the Mets in Game 2, when Kevin Plawecki’s fifth-inning RBI single brought in their only run.
“You’ve just got to battle through it, that is what the game is about,” manager Terry Collins said. “There is no instant fix or scramble the lineup, it’s a total package. You’ve got to get everybody going, and we’re not hitting as a group.”
Jacob deGrom (3-2) allowed three earned runs on six hits with nine strikeouts over six innings in the nightcap. It wasn’t nearly good enough on a night the Mets made noise in only the fifth inning.
“Everybody is grinding, trying to do their best, and it’s just a rough stretch we’re in right now,” deGrom said.
Steven Matz (7-2) wasn’t sharp over five innings in Game 1, but managed to keep the Mets close.
“I had nothing out there today,” said Matz, who allowed two earned runs on eight hits and two walks. “I was really scuffling from the first inning on and that is just one of those days I tried to battle the best I could, but to only go through five innings in a doubleheader like this, I was very disappointed in myself.”
Matz tripled in the fifth, but was left stranded as Niese got Granderson to ground out with the infield halfway before retiring Asdrubal Cabrera.
“One thing Jon Niese can do: He can get ground balls,” Collins said. “If you don’t have a plan of using the field to hit and keep trying to pull him, he is going to get easy outs.”
Michael Conforto had a chance to put the Mets ahead in the fourth inning in Game 1, but struck out with the bases loaded to end a threat. Walker and Wilmer Flores had each singled before James Loney walked. Niese then got two fast strikes on Conforto before getting the strikeout on a 2-2 fastball.