NEW YORK —
Travis Snider went back to the right-field wall, dug his spikes into the chain-link fence, and hooked his left arm on top of the 8-foot wall.
Then the 6-foot outfielder hoisted himself up and grabbed Mike Baxter’s drive in the webbing of the glove on his right hand, maybe a good 4 feet or more above the wall, preserving a one-run lead.
Just call him Snider-Man.
“I was blessed to grow up in Seattle, and I watched Ken Griffey Jr. do that on a regular basis,” Snider said. “I remember being a kid and dreaming of doing that. Any time we got on the field in the Kingdome, that’s all we wanted to do, climb the wall.”
Snider’s web gem was clearly among the best defensive plays in the majors this season. Yet it wasn’t enough for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who lost to the New York Mets 6-5 Thursday as R.A. Dickey won his 20th game.
Pittsburgh, which led the NL Central at the All-Star break, lost for the 20th time in 26 games and dropped to 76-80. The Pirates must win five of their last six games — against Cincinnati and Atlanta — to avoid their 20th consecutive losing season. Pittsburgh’s streak of futility already is a record for North American major professional leagues.
Making it worse, NL batting leader Andrew McCutchen left the game in the seventh inning after bruising his left knee in a failed attempt to make a diving catch on a soft fly into short center by Daniel Murphy. He’ll be re-evaluated Friday.
“It’s all right. It’s not broken or anything,” McCutchen said. “It’ll be fine. I’m ready to go.”
McCutchen was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, dropping his average to .332 and falling one point behind San Francisco’s Buster Posey (.333) for the NL batting title.
If not for Dickey’s win, Snider’s grab would have been the big topic. When the second-inning drive off Kevin Correia (11-11) left the bat, it appeared the score would be tied at 2.
“Incredible. Absolutely incredible,” Baxter said. “I don’t know how he did it. It was one of the best I’ve even seen. I thought it was gone, for sure. I didn’t even think twice.”
Then he stood on the top step of the dugout and watched the replay on the video board.
“Oh my God. The guy just kept elevating,” Baxter said.
Pittsburgh was astounded, too.
“It’s as good a play as you’ll ever want to see an outfielder make,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
For the 24-year-old Snider, the snare rekindled memories.
“It kind of brought me back to my childhood a little bit,” he said, “lots of hours with my old man hitting fly balls in the front yard. It kind of brings you back to being a kid.”
Pittsburgh had taken a 2-0 lead in the second when Rod Barajas hit an opposite-field RBI double that hopped the right-field wall, and Jordy Mercer following with a run-scoring infield single.
Ike Davis led off the bottom half with his 31st homer, but Barajas boosted the lead to 3-1 when he homered on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth, a drive over the old 16-foot wall in left.
Kevin Correia (11-11) gave up Scott Hairston’s RBI single in the fourth and Daniel Murphy’s tying single in the fifth before David Wright hit an opposite-field drive to right for his 21st home run this season and a 6-3 lead.
Dickey allowed three runs and eight hits in 7 2-3 innings, walking two and tying his career high of 13 strikeouts.
Jon Rauch, pitching on his 34th birthday, followed Dickey and allowed Alex Presley’s two-run homer in the ninth. Bobby Parnell retired speedy Josh Harrison on a groundout to shortstop Ruben Tejada in the hole, and Jose Tabata on a flyout for his fifth save
Snider was not planning to watch more replays of his catch later Thursday night.
“I actually have a big Washington Huskies game with Stanford,” he said.
Pirates
Bucs lose, waste Snider’s gem
- Pirates
-
-
Locke, Pirates shut down Astros, 1-0
Jeff Locke didn’t have his best stuff Sunday. He didn’t need it to shut down the majors’ worst team.
-
Astros edge Pirates 4-2 in 11 innings
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen had been automatic with late-inning leads. Until Saturday night.
Jason Castro led off the 11th inning with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a close play at the plate as the Houston Astros topped the Pirates 4-2. -
Dropped fly ball gives Pirates 5-4 win over Astros
Jimmy Paredes dropped Russell Martin’s bases-loaded fly ball when he collided with second baseman Jake Elmore with two outs in the ninth inning, the second missed catch by a Houston right fielder, and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied past the Astros 5-4 Friday night.
-
Snider powers Pirates past Brewers, 7-1
Travis Snider homered for the first time in nine months and drove in three runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates past the reeling Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 on Thursday night.
Snider finished 3 for 5, including a 458-foot blast off Hiram Burgos (1-2) in the sixth inning that gave the Pirates the lead. -
Rodriguez, Pirates silence Brewers, 3-1
Wandy Rodriguez allowed one run over seven strong innings and Neil Walker hit a two-run single as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 on Wednesday night.
Rodriguez (4-2) gave up six hits, walking one and striking out five. -
McCutchen homers in 12th as Pirates top Brewers
Andrew McCutchen homered leading off the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
-
Brewers snap skid, drop sloppy Pirates, 5-1
Marco Estrada allowed three hits over seven innings and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the sloppy Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Monday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
-
Pirates get fortunate bounce to beat Mets, 3-2
Reliever Mark Melancon said his heart sunk. Second baseman Brandon Inge figured, that’s it, two runs. Pedro Alvarez watched from third base and tossed his head back, disappointed.
-
Liriano fans nine as Pirates top Mets
Francisco Liriano finally got to pitch for Pittsburgh and, just like that, the Pirates looked like a much better team.
He struck out nine and the Pirates teed off on New York’s pitching for an 11-2 win over the Mets on Saturday. -
Umps get it right on Jones’ HR; Bucs beat Mets
Garrett Jones hit a three-run homer — a call that was correctly overturned by baseball’s beleaguered umpires — and Wandy Rodriguez pitched the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-3 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night.
- More Pirates Headlines
-
Locke, Pirates shut down Astros, 1-0
