NEW YORK -- Pirates manager Clint Hurdle had good reason to call upon Gaby Sanchez to bat for Ike Davis. Sanchez tagged the Mets again, delivering a pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning and a tiebreaking single in the ninth that rallied Pittsburgh over New York 5-3 on Monday. Sanchez has a .324 average with nine homers and 34 RBIs vs. New York, matching or topping his bests against any NL team. He lost playing time after Davis was acquired in a trade with the Mets in mid-April. "Ikes a good player and hes been swinging the bat really well. Hes been one of the hottest bats on the team. So, hes going to play and I understand that," Sanchez said about Davis, who was making his return to Citi Field. "My role is to keep that going whenever I get my chance, keep that going and help the team win." The Mets announced after their ninth loss in 12 games that they had fired hitting coach Dave Hudgens. New York also cut reliever Jose Valverde soon after he gave up Sanchezs go-ahead hit. Valverde (1-1) was booed off the field after allowing pinch-hitter Jose Tabatas tying single in the eighth. Valverde returned for the ninth and was even worse, yielding four runs overall. "Dont think for one second that theres not a guy in there that realizes that this is part of it. We just released one of the best professionals I ever been around in Jose Valverde," a fired-up Collins said. "You deal with it, and if you cant you dont belong in the game." Mets minor league hitting co-ordinator Lamar Johnson will take Hudgens place. Right-hander Vic Black is being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to fill Valverdes spot. With one out in the ninth, Valverde gave up a single to Neil Walker and walked Andrew McCutchen. Sanchez fouled off a fastball, losing hold of the bat, which spun toward the Pirates dugout and hit a batboy in the legs. The batboy smiled and on-deck hitter Russell Martin checked to see if he was OK. Sanchez then singled to left, scoring Walker. Juan Centeno couldnt handle Curtis Grandersons throw that bounced to the right of the plate and skittered past Valverde, who was backing up but way too close to the catcher. McCutchen scored on Grandersons error for a two-run lead. Martin added an RBI double for Pittsburgh, which rebounded from a loss to Washington on Sunday after a season-high four straight wins. "This mentality in the dugout is, This is the inning. Even if we get pushed down, the next inning well make something," Hurdle said. "Youve got to be relentless. You cant get sad." Tony Watson (5-0) pitched an inning for the win. Mark Melancon got his 10th save. Davis drew a warm reception from the Memorial Day crowd of 29,309, opposite of what he predicted during a pregame chat in the visitors dugout. Popular with fans in his four-plus seasons, he went 0 for 2 with a walk. Slumping Lucas Duda homered off Melancon to start the ninth. The homer was the first off Melancon in 86 innings, since April 14, 2013. New York took a 2-0 lead in the fifth on Daniel Murphys single, Pittsburghs third error of the game and a favourable review under the new home plate collision rule. But the Mets bullpen wasted a fine start by Jacob deGrom. The 25-year-old deGrom pitched 6 2-3 scoreless innings in his third career start, allowing five hits. He laboured early but settled in to throw 122 pitches. Brandon Cumpton was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis to take the place of Wandy Rodriguez, who was designated for assignment Thursday, and matched deGrom into the fifth. With the help of an umpires review, New York took the lead. The Mets two-out rally was started by -- who else? -- deGrom. He lined a single to left field for his second hit of the day and advanced when Juan Lagares walked. A college shortstop, deGrom is now 4 for 5 as a big league batter. "I guess Ive been seeing the ball pretty well," deGrom said. Murphy lined a single to right field and deGrom scored easily. Josh Harrisons throw to third skipped passed third baseman Pedro Alvarez and Lagares scampered home. The ball took a good bounce back to Alvarez off the protective fence in front of the Pirates dugout and he made a quick throw home. Martin set up to the left of home plate but stuck his leg out, blocking Lagares path before the ball arrived. Umpire Laz Diaz initially called Lagares out, but Colliins asked crew chief Jeff Nelson to review the play under new rule 7.13, covering collisions at the plate. After a delay of 3 minutes, 4 seconds, Lagares was called safe and Murphy was awarded second base on the play home. "Weve encouraged our guys to play the game, do what you feel athletically moved to do knowing what the options are," Hurdle said. NOTES: The Mets placed OF Eric Young Jr. on the DL because of a right hamstring strain. They recalled OF Matt den Dekker from Triple-A Las Vegas to take his place. ... The Pirates designated RHP Vin Mazzaro for assignment to make room for Cumpton. ... Up Next: Pirates RHP Edinson Volquez (2-4) faces Mets LHP Jonathon Niese (3-3) on Tuesday night. Custom Braves Jerseys . -- Theres been so much talk about Mike Moustakas at the plate that the third baseman ignored the conversation Wednesday -- even after doing something positive. Mark Melancon Jersey . This time, it was Eric Chavezs turn. Stuck in a rut since coming off the disabled list, Chavez hit the first pitch he saw in the ninth inning for a run-scoring single, sending the Diamondbacks to another walk-off victory, 4-3 over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night. http://www.custombravesjersey.com/custom...large-167z.html. A-Rod is also disqualified from any post-season play. So at the tender age of 38, he will miss all of next season. As a result of missing the coming season, hes also out $25 million (which coincidentally is my hourly rate). Bobby Cox Jersey . The St. Louis Cardinals were scheduled to arrive in Boston in time for a workout on Tuesday afternoon. Much of Mondays discussion focused on Bostons lineup considerations as the series progresses, specifically when the venue shifts to St. Custom Braves T-shirts . With timely hitting and good pitching, the Marlins are one win away from sweeping the slumping Houston Astros.KANSAS CITY – For the fourth time in seven games, the Blue Jays blew a lead of at least three runs. While it would be easy to lay this one on the bullpen - Steve Delabar, Brett Cecil, Sergio Santos and Esmil Rogers got tagged for eight runs in the final two innings - this loss, by a final score of 10-7 to the Royals, was a total team effort. So much so, in fact, that manager John Gibbons, Kansas Citys bench coach as recently as 2011, took a veiled shot at his club while praising his old team. “I will say one thing about that team over there, because I was there when they were young,” said Gibbons. “They play nine innings. I dont care, up or down, they compete and they get after your ass and thats why theyre going to end up winning it one day.” Perhaps Gibbons was upset with catcher Dioner Navarro, who put on a clinic of how not to play defence in the second inning. First, with Royals at the corners and one out, Navarro attempted to back hand a Dustin McGowan slider in the dirt. The ball skipped off Navarros shin guard and towards the Royals first base dugout. Billy Butler, the runner on third, scored. Later in the second, again with runners at the corners, Navarro inexplicably attempted to throw out Alcides Escobar trying to steal second. The throw was offline and bounced into centrefield, allowing Alex Gordon, who was on third, to score. Perhaps Gibbons was upset with Edwin Encarnacion who, with two runners on and one out in the seventh, didnt hustle down the first baseline on a ground ball back to pitcher Kelvin Herrera. Usually a routine play, Herreras throw brought first baseman Eric Hosmer off the bas,e but because Encarnacion was only halfway down the line, Hosmer had plenty of time to collect himself and step on the bag for the out. Perhaps Gibbons was frustrated with Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista, who converged on Gordons lead-off fly ball to right centrefield in the seventh. Neither took charge - its Rasmus job to do so - and the ball bounced on the warning track for a lead-off double. The Jays had a 5-2 lead at the time. Gordon would score one hitter later when Salvador Perez hit a two-run home run off of Delabar, marking the start of the Kansas City comeback. Perhaps Gibbons was frustrated with Melky Cabrera, who did tack on two more hits for a league-leading 41, but who also had a poor night in left field. Twice Royals runners took an extra base on Cabreras arm. Once because he displayed no urgency in getting the ball back to the infield and Cabrera also missed a cut-off man in the Royals six-run eighth, allowing a second run to score on a single by Omar Infante. The Blue Jays fell to 12-14. Gibbons called it a “crappy game.” Under the cirumstances, he was being polite. McGOWANS STRONG OUTING; STROMAN MAKES STATEMENT As Dustin McGowan took the mound in Tuesday nights series opener against the Royals, Marcus Stroman was wrapping up, perhaps, his most impressive appearance in his brief professional career. The two are linked. The belief is that the Blue Jays are growing weary of McGowans inability to work deep into ballgames; manager John Gibbons has repeatedly offered that he liked McGowans work out of the bullpen last season, thinking hes better suited to a one or two-inning role. McGowan is a type-1 diabetic and, as first reported by TSN.ca, he wore his insulin pump in an attempt to regulate his blood sugar level - it tends to skyrocket during games - and alleviatee the fatigue that overtakes him in the middle innings.dddddddddddd He pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this season, granted it was just one batter and Alex Gordon doubled, but it was a step forward. McGowan allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits, three walks and two strikeouts. He left with a lead, which was coughed up by the bullpen. “Real encouraged,” said McGowan. “I got deep in the game and thats all Ive been wanting to do. Sometimes the results are overshadowed by the innings you pitch, but as long as you get deep in games, good things happen once you get deep in games.” Stroman is among the clubs top pitching prospects and of those prospects, is considered to be the most major league ready. He showed it in Buffalo on Tuesday, hurling six hitless innings, striking out 10 and walking only one in what could be his final Bisons appearance before hes added to the 40-man roster and brought up to pitch in Pittsburgh this weekend. Gibbons has talked about using a six-man rotation through the next turn. The Blue Jays dont have another off day until May 19, which prevents Gibbons from rearranging the order of the rotation to facilitate additional days off for certain pitchers. If the Jays were weighing whether to go with McGowan or J.A. Happ on Monday in Philadelphia, after Stroman starts on Sunday in Pittsburgh, McGowans performance may have bought him at least one more start. GETZ ARRIVES; GOINS TO BUFFALO Chris Getz was shagging fly balls during Triple-A Buffalos batting practice on Monday afternoon when minor league field coordinator Doug Davis waved him in to give him the news he was on his way back to the big leagues. A former Royal who played in Kansas City for four seasons and not immediately aware of the Blue Jays next opponent, Getz was surprised to hear of his first stop destination. “It was pretty funny because I knew they had the off day and then Doug mentioned that, Hey, youve got a flight at 6:30 and youre heading to Kansas City,” said Getz. “Heading to Kansas City? I already played with them. Of course, Im playing against them, but it was cool to come back here and see a lot of familiar faces, teammates, but even the people working at the park. You get to know them over the years and theyre such good people here. I just kind of feel at home.” Getzs contract was selected from the Bisons in time for Tuesday nights opener with the Royals. He replaces Ryan Goins, who was optioned to Buffalo after a slow start at the plate. In 24 games and 66 plate appearances, Goins posted a slash line of .150/.203/.217 (.420 OPS), with one home run. “He was having good at-bats,” said hitting coach Kevin Seitzer. “I think if we were, as a group, doing better top-to-bottom, he would probably still be here. I dont know, thats not my decision, but I felt like his at-bats were getting better and better the last week, week-and-a-half.” This isnt it for Goins. The Blue Jays value his glove. Expect him to be back. “I told him, You go down there, be a good teammate, work hard, keep a good attitude which I know you will and apply the stuff that we worked on,” said Seitzer. “I said, I want you building confidence in everything youve done to this point to where you come back and dont go back.” Getz is a solid defensive second baseman who will bring a little more offence than Goins. For his six-year career with the White Sox and Royals, Getz, 30, is a .251/.310/.309 hitter. ' ' '