National League Game Summary - New York at Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Gerrit Cole fired 8 1/3 dominant innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Mets 4-1 in the opener of a three-game set.

Cole (6-2) struck out 10 and allowed an unearned run on six hits and a walk for the Pirates, who had dropped six of their last seven games coming in. Mark Melancon recorded the final two outs in the ninth to notch his 10th save of the season.

"He threw 111 pitches. He had a shot to close it down. It didn't happen there. He'll do that one of these days," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said of Cole, whose yet to throw a shutout in his MLB career.

Chris Stewart went 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Pedro Alvarez and Jung Ho Kang each had a hit, an RBI and a run scored in the triumph.

Noah Syndergaard (1-2) surrendered four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits for New York, which had won four of its last six contests heading in.

"Got to have a short memory and prepare for my next start," Syndergaard said.

The Pirates opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the second.

Alvarez hit a two-out, ground-rule double to left and Gregory Polanco followed with a base hit to the right side of the infield to bring home Alvarez. Polanco then stole second and scored on Stewart's double to left.

Juan Lagares scored on a wild pitch in the top of the third to cut the deficit in half, but Pittsburgh pushed across two more in the sixth.

Andrew McCutchen smacked a leadoff double to right, moved to third on a Starling Marte grounder and came home on Kang's high bouncer through the middle of the infield. Kang scurried to second on a failed pickoff attempt and stole third before scoring on Alvarez's sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.