Mets beat Pirates on Luis Robert Jr.'s walk-off home run in 11th inning
Centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. is greeted at home plate after his walk-off three-run home run led the Mets past the Pirates in the 11th inning on Saturday at Citi Field. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
When trailing after the eighth inning or later last season, the Mets were 0-70 — a statistic almost astonishing in its improbability. There were no lucky breaks, no late-game heroics, no opposing relievers having an extra-bad day.
And no Luis Robert Jr.
It took only two games in 2026 for the Mets to notch their first late-inning comeback of the year.
Robert — acquired from the White Sox for Luisangel Acuna and a minor-league pitcher in the offseason — battled swirling winds, low temperatures and the Mets’ horrific track record Saturday evening, rocketing Hunter Barco’s low slider into the left-centerfield seats for a walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning as the Mets earned a 4-2 victory over the Pirates at Citi Field.
The Mets came back twice in extra innings, and Robert delivered the second walk-off of his career.
Afterward, there was only a giddy sort of awe.
“It’s unbelievable,” starter David Peterson said. “I faced him a lot in spring and I was getting real tired of facing him, so it was nice to see [him do that] from the dugout.”
Added manager Carlos Mendoza: “With the conditions today, with the way the wind was blowing, especially from leftfield, to just be able to leave the yard like that in that situation, it goes to show you that this guy is special.”
It turned an offensively aggravating afternoon into a celebratory night. The Mets were 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base, and though they grinded, they also displayed some uncompetitive at-bats late in the game.
But there was Robert, a free swinger who spent the offseason working on his pitch selection, and the player ahead of him in the lineup, Jorge Polanco, walking three times, allowing Robert to see more and more pitches.
“We created traffic,” Mendoza said. “We got guys in scoring position. I thought we expanded [the zone] a little today, to be honest with you, but it’s going to happen . . . It’s a deep lineup and it’s a good feeling.”
The first Mets comeback took place in the 10th after the Pirates finally broke a scoreless tie on Nick Gonzales’ one-out RBI single off Luis Garcia.
The Mets then tied it before loading the bases with none out, but they were unable to push the winning run across.
With runners on first and second and none out, Mark Vientos singled sharply through the left side to load the bases and Luis Torrens lined a fastball the other way for an RBI single.
The Mets made the next two outs at home — the first on Francisco Lindor’s soft grounder to second and the next on Juan Soto’s swinging bunt. Bo Bichette flied out to right to end the inning.
The Pirates went ahead again in the 11th when, with Jake Mangum on third and two outs, Bryan Reynolds hit a slow grounder down the third-base line that looked as if it would veer foul but died on the grass between Richard Lovelady and Bichette.
“I couldn’t believe that stayed fair,” Mendoza said. “None of them had a chance there.”
That one wasn’t on Bichette, but it was a bit of a concerning defensive day for the converted shortstop (and Polanco didn’t fare a whole lot better at first base).
Though Bichette made a nifty play in the third, backhanding an in-between hop and rocketing it to first for the out, he committed an error to lead off the fourth. He seemed caught in between charging a grounder and staying back on it and eventually made a wide throw to Polanco, who grabbed it but couldn’t apply the tag.
In the sixth, Polanco struggled with a tough hop, allowing Gonzales to reach on an infield hit.
Polanco also was responsible for some errant flips, leading to some gymnastics by Peterson and Luke Weaver, who had to tumble and stretch toward the bag to get the second out of the seventh.
The Pirates may not have scored on the miscues, but it did cost Peterson plenty of extra pitches. He departed after laboring through 5 1⁄3 innings and 76 pitches. He allowed no runs and six hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
But whatever the challenges, this was yet another indicator that last year was behind them, Mendoza said.
“It’s a different group,” he said. “It was a weird year when we were talking about coming from behind. You just continue to feel good about your chances. We got down and you saw what was coming [up next to the plate for the Mets], and we got down again and there’s no panic. We continued to control the strike zone when we needed to, just kind of continued to put together some tough at-bats. It was good to get that one out of the way.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
