When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And New York Mets fans certainly applied the popular expression during the team’s seventh loss in a row in Pittsburgh.
On Friday night, footage of fans in the stands at PNC Park emerged on Twitter as the Mets were obliterated by the Pirates in a 14-7 blowout.
Fans of both teams along the stadium’s first-base line are seen shoving each other before things got nasty when punches were thrown, all while the game was ongoing with the Mets at-bat.
As the fight carried on, a fan in a black Mets jersey, who was part of the brawl when it initially broke out, returned, coming from a row behind where the melee was taking place and got back into the thick of things with a right-handed punch.
Midway through the footage, however, it appears that stadium security finally put an end to the fracas for good.
A fight between Mets and Pirates fans broke out in stands during Pittsburgh’s 14-7 win, Friday
It’s unclear what started the fight, though a rot of seven losses on the bounce for the Mets seems to be a factor, with the team’s slide being its longest since it dropped seven straight in June 2019.
Mets manager Buck Showalter tried to stress the positive after the team put Pete Alonso, whose 22 home runs lead the majors, on the injured list Friday because of a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.
Still, even Showalter admitted it ‘looked like’ New York took the field against Pittsburgh still stinging from a winless trip to Atlanta.
‘Didn’t pitch well, and that usually does a lot of it,’ said the four-time manager of the year. And made (two) errors. It is what it is.’
The fight grabbed the attention of most fans from both teams sitting along the first-base line
The Mets have lost seven games in a row, their worst rot since dropping seven straight in 2017
The flavor of the games during the Mets’ losing streak has been all over the place, with them being outscored 51-31 in the eight games.
The Pirates ended a two-game losing streak, with both defeats coming in blowout fashion against the worst team in baseball, the Oakland Athletics.
On Saturday, New York right-hander Kodai Senga (5-3, 3.75 ERA) is expected to start opposite Pittsburgh right-hander Johan Oviedo (3-4, 4.29) in both teams’ second matchup that’s part of a three-game series.
Against the Mets, Oviedo has taken some lumps. He is 0-2 with a 10.24 ERA in three career starts covering just 9 2/3 innings.
