The Mets haven’t hit left-handers. The Mets haven’t hit at home or in the clutch. And last night they just didn’t hit at all, humbled by the Pirates in a 7-3 loss.
Winless starter Shaun Marcum lasted just 4²/₃ innings, the Pirates bleeding him for three runs in the second. With the Mets lineup having been equal parts impotent and ineffective for the past couple of weeks, those were all the runs Pittsburgh needed.
The Mets mustered a lone run against Pirates lefty starter Wandy Rodriguez (3-2), not working a single walk in his six innings.
They hit just 1-for-12 with men in scoring position, and are just 21-for-113 in their last 16 games. Lefties? The Mets have been wretched against them, coming into last night batting .192 in their previous nine games and going just 6-of-24 against Rodriguez before getting a pair in the ninth off former Yankee Jose Contreas to make it look respectable.
The Mets can ill afford to fall behind early in games, but that’s exactly what they did. Marcum (0-3) allowed three consecutive singles to lead off the second inning, although Marlon Byrd throwing out Jose Tabata trying to go first-to-third on Pedro Alvarez’s RBI single.
Up to that point, only Marcum’s pride was hurt, but he took a liner from Rodriguez off of his left hand (X-rays were negative) as Pittsburgh scored again. When shortstop Ruben Tejada doubled-clutched on Starling Marte’s grounder, it went for an infield single and a 3-0 hole. Marcum doubled that with another three-run inning in the fifth.
Marcum led off the frame by plunking Marte, then allowed Jordy Mercer’s single. Garrett Jones laced a shot that bounced off the right field wall just above the glove of a leaping Byrd, pulling into third with what was initially ruled a triple by first-base umpire Joe West.
But the ball clearly hit the black just above the painted orange top of the fence and after a quick 1:32 review, the umps reserved the call, correctly giving Jones his three-run home run and saving MLB executive VP for Baseball Operations Joe Torre from having to make any more statements.
That made it 6-0, and two batters later Marcum’s night was over. He allowed nine hits and six runs in his 4 ²/₃ innings to see his ERA balloon to 8.59. It’s a damning indictment of his season that it was actually his longest outing as a Met, despite the fact he’s the first pitcher in club history to not reach the sixth inning in any of his first three starts.
Backup catcher Anthony Recker’s line-drive solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning — his first as a Met — and Jordany Valdespin’s ninth-inning, pinch-hit blast into the Pepsi Porch off Contreras were about the only bright spots. Andrew Brown drove in Ike Davis with a single to cap the Mets’ two-run ninth.
David Wright (2-for-4) fouled a ball off the inside of his left knee in the first inning. He was visibly limping immediately afterward, but played until he was double-switched out in the eighth inning.
He made a nice play to rob John McDonald in the top of the fourth, and in the bottom of the inning he dropped a double into the left-field corner, showing no ill effects as he pulled into second. He did make a rare throwing error in the eighth, but the Mets got the out anyway when McDonald overran the bag.
brian.lewis@nypost.com