Bell Helps Pirates Finish Sweep of Mets

Jay Bell, batting .128, hit a three-run pinch triple that capped a five-run seventh inning Thursday as Pittsburgh defeated the New York Mets, 10-8, for the Pirates’ first three-game sweep in New York in eight years.

Bell tripled off relief ace Randy Myers as the Pirates, who wasted a 5-0 first-inning lead, won their fifth consecutive game.

“We needed something like that,” Bell said. “They are a great team, and this is something we can build on.”

The last time the Pirates swept a three-game series in New York was April 28-30, 1981.

The Mets trail Montreal by five games in the East.