PITTSBURGH — Vic Black’s return to PNC Park won’t top his list of career highlights with the Mets.
The fire-balling reliever, acquired last August from the Pirates as part of the trade for Marlon Byrd and John Buck, couldn’t get the final out in the 11th inning Friday night, sending the Mets to their third straight loss, 3-2, in front of 37,952.
Josh Harrison’s two-out, RBI double against Black ended it, after Clint Barmes walked to begin the winning rally.
“[Harrison] is a hacker — I played with him for a while,” Black said. “I just threw him a four-seamer away, it wasn’t a bad pitch, but you see plenty of them when you’re in the on-deck circle, so your timing is on. He’s a scrappy guy. I give it to him. He hit the [heck] out of it.
“But it would have just been a hit if there wasn’t the walk. We would either still be out there or in here celebrating.”
Jenrry Mejia’s brilliance in the 10th inning kept the Mets afloat, after they appeared finished. Mejia escaped a second-and-third jam with nobody out, striking out two in the process.
Harrison became the loose squirrel on the field in that inning, guaranteeing the Mets’ infamy on the blooper reels.
Gregory Polanco hit a chopper that Mejia grabbed, forcing Harrison into a rundown between second and third. But Harrison, ducking and weaving, first avoided Eric Campbell’s tag attempt. The next line of defense was Ruben Tejada, who took Campbell’s toss and missed the lunging Harrison, who reached third.
Manager Terry Collins was irate at the call — Harrison appeared to leave the baseline, and he dove onto the infield grass — but said he’s not sure what explanation he received from the umpires.
“That wasn’t the difference in the game, so I really don’t know,” Collins said. “I wasn’t too happy at the time, so I’m not sure I was paying much attention.”
The inning began with a defensive miscue, as Campbell — starting at third base in place of David Wright (headed to New York for an MRI exam on his sore left shoulder) — booted Harrison’s grounder. Harrison was generously awarded a single, and he stole second.
Mejia sent the game to extra innings by getting three straight outs after allowing a leadoff single to Russell Martin in the ninth. Mejia, working for the first time in six days, struck out Gaby Sanchez and Jordy Mercer in succession to end the threat.
“We didn’t do much during the game,” Collins said. “Certainly Jenrry did a good job getting out of it.”
Bobby Abreu was retired with the go-ahead run at third base in the ninth — killing the Mets’ final chance to take the lead in regulation. Mark Melancon had allowed singles in the inning to Campbell and Travis d’Arnaud, giving the Mets their first legitimate threat since the fifth.
Andrew McCutchen elicited the chant “MVP” from the sellout crowd in the eighth by racing to the fence in right-center and robbing Curtis Granderson of a potential leadoff double.
Jacob deGrom gave the Mets a second straight strong performance, lasting 6 ²/₃ innings in which he allowed two earned runs on five hits, three walks and a hit batsman. The rookie was coming of a dominant start in Miami, where he fired seven shutout innings for his first major league victory.
Mercer’s two-run single in the fourth tied the game at 2-2 after deGrom had loaded the bases with two outs. Martin’s infield single — Lucas Duda smothered the ball but couldn’t recover in time to make the play — put runners on first and second before Pedro Alvarez walked to load the bases.
DeGrom blamed himself for not covering the bag on the play.
“I was frustrated I wasn’t over there,” deGrom said. “If I get over there, they probably don’t score.”