The Pittsburgh Pirates have not won a game since opening last week with a doubleheader sweep of the New York Mets at home.
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In this Associated Press photo, Kang Jung-ho of the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrates his two-run home run off Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets on June 14, 2016, in New York.
Taillon will start on on Tuesday against the Mets.
The teams entered the sixth locked in a scoreless tie, as deGrom surrendered three hits, all singles, and struck out eight over his first five frames.
One of baseball’s top pitching prospects, Taillon held NY hitless until Curtis Granderson grounded a leadoff single in the seventh, squeezing it through the defensive shift between two diving infielders on the outfield grass.
But the Pirates responded by adding two runs in eighth on a towering home run from Starling Marte, putting the game out of reach.
Second baseman Neil Walker (lower back) and slumping left fielder Michael Conforto (left wrist) remained out of the starting lineup.
Nicasio is the most likely candidate to get the ball on Tuesday but the Pittsburgh rotation is in a bit of a holding pattern with ace Gerrit Cole dealing with tightness in his triceps.
James Loney’s clean single with one out in the eighth was the only other hit off Taillon, who needed only 91 pitches to get through eight innings.
Tony Watson worked around a leadoff double by pinch-hitter Matt Reynolds in the ninth to finish the three-hitter. He made his long-awaited big league debut last Wednesday in Pittsburgh against the Mets, allowing three runs and six hits over six innings in a no-decision.
On Monday night through out New York City, many buildings including the Empire State Building and One World Trade were lit in rainbow colors in support. And general manager Sandy Alderson acknowledged before the game Tuesday that even if the Mets were inclined, difference-makers just are not available in mid-June.
“We’ll just let him write his own story going forward, ” Hurdle said. Collins then opted to pinch-hit Lagares for deGrom in the bottom half, and he grounded out to third to end the inning.
Lagares and Conforto ended up getting used as pinch hitters.
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RHP Noah Syndergaard (6-2, 2.00 ERA) pitches for NY against LHP Jeff Locke (5-4, 5.38) in the middle game of the series Wednesday night.
