Flushing, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Behind Bartolo Colon's best start of the season, the New York Mets claimed their first series win at home in a month by coming away with a 5-0 triumph over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Colon (4-5) racked up a season-best nine strikeouts -- including the 2,000th of his career -- while limiting the Pirates to five hits and a walk over 7 1/3 sharp innings.
David Wright and Lucas Duda supplied the offense to help the Mets take the rubber match of the three-game set, with Wright finishing 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI and Duda belting a two-run shot and scoring twice.
Hurt by four walks and a pair of Pittsburgh errors, Pirates starter Charlie Morton (1-7) was dealt the loss after being reached for three runs -- two earned -- over 5 1/3 innings.
Morton's inconsistency in finding the strike zone was most evident in the second inning, as he issued a leadoff walk to Duda and a pair of wild pitches -- the second of which brought in the game's first run with two out and the non- threatening Colon at the plate.
Poor defense behind him led to another New York run an inning later. A pair of errors on a routine ground ball -- third baseman Pedro Alvarez threw wildly to first and shortstop Jordy Mercer dropped the throw to second -- put Daniel Murphy in position to score on Wright's single to left for a 2-0 lead.
"The defense hasn't been good, we've been challenged," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "It's been one of our staples."
Wright extended the margin with a leadoff homer in the sixth, and Duda crushed a Bryan Morris fastball off the second deck facade in right with Curtis Granderson aboard in the eighth to lengthen the Mets' advantage to 5-0.
"I'm enjoying the home runs there, it's kind of instant offense," Wright said. "I judge my at-bats and I judge my production by other things than just home runs."
Colon didn't need the help, however. The veteran right-hander didn't allow a runner past second base at any point of his stint and yielded a mere three hits prior to consecutive singles from Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen that chased him with one out in the top of the eighth.
Jeurys Familia got former Met Ike Davis to ground into a double play, however, then polished off the shutout in the ninth to notch his first save of the season.
Game Notes
The Mets had lost four straight series at Citi Field since taking two of three games from Miami on April 25-27, while their back-to-back home wins are their first since April 24-25 ... Colon's 2,000th career strikeout came when he caught Davis looking in the sixth inning ... Walker, playing in his 600th career game, extended his hitting streak to nine games with his single ... McCutchen and Alvarez each went 2-for-4 for Pittsburgh ... Mercer finished 0- for-4 and in now hitless in 21 straight at-bats.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.