PITTSBURGH -- When Mother Nature brings the heat, so do the Pirates. Summer is hitting season, and the Bucs, playing their first home game of the summer, followed through on Thursday.It's easy, of course, with Gregory Polanco on the scene.Polanco's first home run in home whites, a majestic three-run blow in the fifth, sparked the Pirates to a 5-2 win over the Mets at PNC Park. 
For the first time since April 6, the home crowd got to see the Pirates finish a game with a winning record. Thursday's victory before 36,647 -- the fifth sellout crowd of the season -- lifted the Bucs to 40-39, as well as their National League-best record since May 6 to 28-19.Polanco did not pick on an easy target for his second big league homer: It came off Daisuke Matsuzaka, the rejuvenated right-hander who had surrendered only one homer in his previous 51 innings.Meanwhile, Vance Worley turned PNC Park into Vanimal House.The bespectacled righty (@Vanimal_46) allowed one run in seven innings, on a Lucas Duda homer in the fourth. He scattered six other hits, walked two, struck out three and was helped by a couple of double plays -- the Pittsburgh infield's sixth and seventh in the last four games.Polanco connected on a full-count pitch following singles by Pedro Alvarez -- subsequently erased on Jordy Mercer's grounder -- and Worley. The drive, which soared into the upper half of the right-field seats beyond The Clemente Wall, was estimated at 418 feet.The young phenom had already driven in the Pirates' first run on a first-inning grounder. He added his fourth steal of the season to complete the total effort.Mark Melancon secured his 14th save -- an opportunity that arose when David Wright ripped an RBI double in the eighth off Tony Watson. That was the first earned run allowed by the lefty reliever since April 22, a stretch covering 26 appearances and 26 1/3 innings.Tom Singer / MLB.com
For the first time since April 6, the home crowd got to see the Pirates finish a game with a winning record. Thursday's victory before 36,647 -- the fifth sellout crowd of the season -- lifted the Bucs to 40-39, as well as their National League-best record since May 6 to 28-19.Polanco did not pick on an easy target for his second big league homer: It came off Daisuke Matsuzaka, the rejuvenated right-hander who had surrendered only one homer in his previous 51 innings.Meanwhile, Vance Worley turned PNC Park into Vanimal House.The bespectacled righty (@Vanimal_46) allowed one run in seven innings, on a Lucas Duda homer in the fourth. He scattered six other hits, walked two, struck out three and was helped by a couple of double plays -- the Pittsburgh infield's sixth and seventh in the last four games.Polanco connected on a full-count pitch following singles by Pedro Alvarez -- subsequently erased on Jordy Mercer's grounder -- and Worley. The drive, which soared into the upper half of the right-field seats beyond The Clemente Wall, was estimated at 418 feet.The young phenom had already driven in the Pirates' first run on a first-inning grounder. He added his fourth steal of the season to complete the total effort.Mark Melancon secured his 14th save -- an opportunity that arose when David Wright ripped an RBI double in the eighth off Tony Watson. That was the first earned run allowed by the lefty reliever since April 22, a stretch covering 26 appearances and 26 1/3 innings.Tom Singer / MLB.com
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