video thumbnail

CIN@NYM: Johan strikes out five over 6 2/3 innings

Maybe Erik Bedard and Johan Santana can commiserate before they face off Monday night at PNC Park in the opener of a three-game series between the Pirates and Mets.

Both veteran left-handers are used to battling injuries. This season, they have dealt with a lack of support from their teams.

Bedard and Santana are a combined 3-7 in 16 starts, a mark that does nothing to show how effectively they have pitched. Bedard's 3.07 ERA is only slightly higher than Santana's 2.89 mark, and both hurlers have more strikeouts and fewer hits than innings pitched.

Santana has provided the Mets with five consecutive quality starts, in which he has logged a 2.51 ERA. But he's taken the no-decision in four of those, including Wednesday's game against the Reds, when the Mets' bullpen allowed four runs in the eighth inning to blow a lead.

"Once I do my job and I'm out of the game, I just hope the guys can finish it," Santana said afterward. "But again, it's out of my control, and there's not much I can do. I just watch and hope that we get it done."

Bedard started the season with four straight losses despite a 2.62 ERA. His luck has improved a bit since then, but he also left his May 9 start against the Nationals after one-plus innings with back spasms, then got some extra time off before taking the mound against Washington on May 16.

Bedard came back to pitch six innings, striking out seven against one walk. But he also gave up three home runs and four runs overall.

"Erik was fit for duty, no complications and no issues," manager Clint Hurdle said. "He pitched a pretty good ballgame. For being off the time he was, he gave us a competitive effort today."

Mets: Davis on thin ice?
• First baseman Ike Davis entered Sunday's game at Toronto batting .160 with a .518 OPS, then went 1-for-4 with a double. He might not have too many more chances to get things going before a demotion to Triple-A Buffalo arrives.

Davis is 2-for-26 (.077) since May 12. Manager Terry Collins seemed to leave the door open for a move in the near future, as the Mets begin the second half of their six-game road trip.

"There is nothing etched in stone," Collins said Sunday morning. "We will never say something is not going to happen. What we're trying to do is make sure that we wring the rag dry. That's why, coming into this road trip, we said, 'Here are some pretty good opportunities.'"

• Third baseman David Wright had a scheduled off-day on Saturday in Toronto, but also was suffering from a head cold bad enough to make him unavailable as a pinch-hitter. Wright, leading the Majors with a .412 batting average, returned to the lineup on Sunday and went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs

Pirates: A well traveled man
• With a lefty on the mound Monday, Hurdle probably will put Josh Harrison in the lineup for the seventh time in nine games. The only question is where.

Harrison is 8-for-22 (.364) in those starts, which include two games apiece at shortstop and third base, and one apiece at designated hitter and second base. Hurdle said Harrison could see more time in the outfield, as well, beyond his one appearance in left this season.

"It's probably inevitable, more than anything," Hurdle said. "He's taken a ton of balls out there, getting a lot of reps."

• The Pirates are kicking off a nine-game stand at PNC Park, where they are 10-8. Pittsburgh has managed to go 19-22, despite ranking last in the Majors in runs, with only center fielder Andrew McCutchen swinging the bat at a high level this season.

"We have one guy on offense [McCutchen] showing up as expected," Hurdle said. "All of them -- they know it. We've been saying how well we'll be off when we hit ... well, let's go do it. [What our record says is] we've been able to overcome some challenges and still win ballgames. But we still got to get better."

Worth noting
• Santana has a 1.80 ERA in four career starts at PNC Park. He has held current Pirates to a .176 average (9-for-51).

• Bedard hasn't pitched against the Mets since 2006. Wright is the only player still with the team to have seen action in that game.

• Wright has homered once in 95 career plate appearances at PNC Park, giving him a .356 slugging percentage there.

MLB.com Comments