Mets blown out by Pirates after Luis Severino's worst start of season

PITTSBURGH — In the Mets’ 14-2 loss to the Pirates on Friday night, the most telling details were the men on the mound in the beginning and at the end.

Pittsburgh started with flamethrowing righthander Paul Skenes, the most hyped pitching prospect in more than a decade, who has provided the early results to match. He gave up two runs in seven innings, positioning his team more than well enough.

The Mets finished with Luis Torrens — yes, the backup catcher.

In another winnable game, they trailed by two in the seventh inning. But the bullpen gave up 10 runs in less than two frames, allowing the situation to deteriorate to such an extent that manager Carlos Mendoza turned to a position player for the last out of the eighth.

“The good thing is it’s only one game,” Francisco Lindor said. “They came out and they played better than us.”

The Mets (42-44) have lost three in a row and five of their past seven.

The Pirates (42-45), one of the less effective offenses in the majors, hit a team record-tying seven home runs, including two grand slams.

Sealing the game was that bottom of the seventh. Luis Severino finished his worst start of the year: six innings-plus, seven runs. He departed with the bases loaded and nobody out, a bad situation made worse by Jake Diekman, who immediately allowed a grand slam by Bryan Reynolds.

In his past two outings, both of which pretty much decided the game, Diekman has faced seven batters and recorded one out. His ERA is 5.06.

“Obviously, he’s going through it right now. It’s hard,” Mendoza said. “We’ve gotta get back to watching film and trying to help him.”

Ty Adcock toiled for 46 pitches across the seventh and eighth, giving up six runs (three homers, including a grand slam by Rowdy Tellez). Late in that sequence, Mendoza asked Torrens about making his third career pitching appearance (following two with Seattle in 2022).

“Not pretty,” Mendoza said.

Severino and Mendoza both blamed the Mets’ starter for not throwing enough breaking balls. That was fine initially, when he navigated the first three innings with little issue, but then Pittsburgh figured it out.

Tellez and Jack Suwinski blasted solo homers in the fourth. Reynolds’ two-run shot in the fifth put the Pirates ahead.

“We tried to be too smart about it,” Severino said. “I need to trust my pitches and command my pitches better.”

Conversely, Skenes had to grind early, when the Mets had their chances. But they hit into two inning-ending double plays — one on a lineout — and scored only on Jeff McNeil’s homer in the third and DJ Stewart’s sacrifice fly in the fourth. The latter came after Pete Alonso doubled on the 10th pitch of his at-bat.

Skenes settled in shortly thereafter, retiring 11 of his final 12 batters. He finished with a season-high 107 pitches.

He drew a crowd of 37,037, which brought a ballpark buzz that had been lacking in the Mets’ trips here in recent years.

Drafted first overall out of LSU last July, Skenes dabbled in the minors and debuted in the majors in May to the most fanfare of any pitcher since Stephen Strasburg (2010).

The early impression has been striking: 5-0 record, 2.12 ERA, 1.01 WHIP in 10 starts. He has racked up 78 strikeouts in 59  1⁄3 innings with the help of a fastball that routinely reaches 100 mph. Along the way, he has offered optimism to a franchise and fan base that is eager to come out the other side of a lengthy rebuild.

“When you’re facing somebody like that, you have to have your A-game,” Severino said. “He was better than me today.”

Lindor said: “Good pitcher. Like everybody is saying, he’s got a bright future.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.