NEW YORK — Only 48 hours after the baseball gods gave us a brief glimpse of summer with a combined 18 runs and 70-degree temperatures, winter crept back in and Citi Field, leaving it devoid of offense. When the winds blow in from Flushing Bay like they did Saturday afternoon, the ballpark becomes a tough place to hit. Credit the starting pitchers in the second game of the 2026 season, ...

Luis Robert Jr. of the New York Mets reacts to hitting the game-winning home run during the 11th inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New York.

Ishika Samant/Getty Images North America/TNS

NEW YORK — Only 48 hours after the baseball gods gave us a brief glimpse of summer with a combined 18 runs and 70-degree temperatures, winter crept back in and Citi Field, leaving it devoid of offense.

When the winds blow in from Flushing Bay like they did Saturday afternoon, the ballpark becomes a tough place to hit. Credit the starting pitchers in the second game of the 2026 season, Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller and Mets lefty David Peterson, for their efforts in shutout outings, and the respective bullpens for keeping the game scoreless until the Pirates scored in the top of the 10th.

The Mets, however, came back with a run of their own.

With a runner on third in the top of the 11th inning, Bryan Reynolds hit a slow roller that left-hander Richard Lovelady and third baseman Bo Bichette both thought would roll foul. It stayed fair, the automatic runner scored and the Pirates went ahead again. The Mets, after looking like world-beaters on Opening Day, briefly went back to being the Mets everyone knows and loves.

That is, until Luis Robert Jr. took Hunter Barco deep to left field in the bottom of the 11th for a three-run walk-off blast. The Mets won 4-2, taking their first series of the year in dramatic fashion.

In the bottom of the 10th, Mark Vientos pinch-hit a single off left-hander Barco to load the bases, and Francisco Alvarez tied the game with a single to left. But then Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto hit grounders right to Barco, and the Mets ran into two straight outs at the plate.

With the bases loaded for the third time in the inning, Bichette popped one up to right field to extend the game.

Infield singles and shallow fly balls hurt Peterson’s pitch count later in the fifth and sixth innings. He faced traffic in four straight innings, deftly working around it until the sixth when the Mets went to the bullpen with two on and one out. Right-hander Huascar Brazobán finished the job for him, keeping the game scoreless, and keeping Peterson’s line at six hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

Lindor nearly ended Keller’s outing with a fly ball to the center field wall in the sixth inning, but former Mets farmhand Jake Mangum scaled the wall like Spider-Man to make the catch. Keller went six innings, allowing only three hits, all singles and striking out three.

The Mets’ best chances came against the Pirates’ bullpen. Right-hander Justin Lawrence walked the first two hitters he faced in the seventh before striking out Brett Baty and Marcus Semien, and left-hander Gregory Soto, a onetime Mets reliever, got Carson Benge swinging to end the threat.

By the ninth inning, the crowd had turned sparse. Lines wrapped around the ballpark before the game began, with fans eager to receive replicas of the 1986 World Series ring and to get in on the fun after Thursday, but the winter weather and stranded runners had many heading for warmth in the later innings.

Who could blame them? The temperature dipped into the 30s and the Mets used their best relievers in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. New closer Devin Williams pitched around runners on the corners in the top of the ninth to keep it scoreless going into the bottom frame, briefly bringing the fans who remained to their feet.

Again, Jorge Polanco walked to lead off the ninth, just as he did in the seventh. With one out, Baty hit a screaming line drive that went directly into the glove of Ryan O’Hearn at first base. Polanco was doubled off at second base.

The game went into the 10th. The fans mostly went home. Eventually, they missed out on the fun in the 11th.

The series concludes Sunday afternoon. Mets’ star rookie-hander Nolan McLean will make his first start of the season, facing right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski.

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