Pirates – Mets Takeaways: Happ flashes good arsenal of pitches; Polanco clutch again

Win: Arquimedes Caminero (3-1)

Loss: Bobby Parnell (1-2)

Save: Mark Melancon (36)

1. Gregory Polanco singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates’ (67-46) ended the New York Mets (63-43) seven-game home winning streak, with a 3-2 win Friday night.

Polanco who has become Mr. Clutch since July, singled off Bobby Parnell and Aramis Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly against Carlos Torres to push the Pirates lead to 3-1.

2. In the bottom of the 10th Curtis Granderson’s sacrifice fly cut the Pirates lead to 3-2 before Mark Melancon finished the Mets off for his 36th save of the season.

3. Arquimedes Caminero pitched a scoreless ninth for the win. Caminero threw 11 pitches, all for strikes.

4. Neil Walker continues to swing the bat well, homering with one out in the first off Bartolo Colon. It was Walker’s 12th home run of the season.

5. Starting Pitchers: J.A. Happ had a nice back bounce outing after having his scheduled start skipped earlier in the week. Happ went 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and one run, while striking out seven and walking one. The stuff was playing really well and through two starts with the Pirates, Happ has a 13/3 K/BB ratio.Mets starter Bartolo Colon pitched seven strong innings, allowing five hits and one run.

The St. Louis Cardinals (74-41) defeated the Florida Marlins 3-1 to remain six games ahead of the Pirates for first place….The Chicago Cubs (66-48) extended their winning streak to eight games with a 6-5 win over the White Sox…..