PITTSBURGH (Interstat) — Marcus Semien hit a three-run home run and Carson Benge drove in two runs as the New York Mets defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Friday night at PNC Park.

Zac Thornton pitched five scoreless innings to earn the win for the Mets, who improved to 51-66. The Pirates fell to 57-61. Thornton allowed four hits and struck out three while lowering his season resume to 3-2. Carmen Mlodzinski took the loss for Pittsburgh, dropping to 6-4.

New York opened the scoring in the first inning. A.J. Ewing doubled to left field, and Bo Bichette followed with a soft ground-ball single to third. Benge then lined a single to center field, scoring Ewing and giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. Jared Young flied out to right, allowing Bichette to advance to third, but Marcus Semien grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

The Mets went quietly in the second, with Brett Baty grounding out, Jorge Polanco flying out and Luis Torrens grounding out. The Pirates had a chance in the bottom half when Esmerlyn Valdez walked, but Spencer Horwitz lined into an unassisted double play, with first baseman Jared Young catching the ball and doubling Valdez off first. Nick Gonzales then flied out to center.

The game turned in the third inning. Ewing led off with a sharp single to center, and Francisco Lindor walked. Bichette then hit a fly ball that became an odd double play. Left fielder Bryan Reynolds caught the ball and threw to shortstop Jared Triolo, who relayed to second baseman Brandon Lowe and then to third baseman Nick Gonzales to erase Ewing, who had been tagged out leaving second. The Mets challenged the call on the field, but the ruling was upheld, leaving Lindor on first with two outs.

Benge then delivered a ground-ball single to right field, scoring Lindor to make it 2-0. Young kept the rally going with a line-drive single to center, putting runners at the corners. Semien followed by launching a fly ball to left center for his 14th home run of the season. The three-run blast scored Benge and Young and gave the Mets a 5-0 lead. Baty flied out to left to end the inning.

New York added a run in the fourth. Polanco struck out and Torrens grounded out before Ewing was hit by a pitch. Lindor then singled to center, scoring Ewing from first and stretching the lead to 6-0. Bichette popped out to second base, but the Mets already had all the runs they would need.

Thornton kept the Pirates off the scoreboard through the middle innings. In the third, Ronny Simon flied out, Jared Triolo singled, Rafael Flores Jr. struck out, and Jake Mangum bunted into a lineout to the pitcher. In the fourth, Brandon Lowe struck out, Bryan Reynolds singled, and Valdez walked, but Horwitz grounded into a double play to end the threat. In the fifth, Gonzales singled, but Simon popped out, Triolo grounded into a force out, and Flores singled before Mangum lined out sharply to center.

The Mets had chances to add more. In the fifth, Cristian Pache struck out, Young grounded out, and Semien grounded out. In the sixth, Baty singled, but Polanco grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, and Torrens walked before Ewing struck out. In the seventh, Lindor struck out, Bichette lined out, and Pache struck out. In the eighth, Young grounded out, Semien flied out to right, and Baty struck out. In the ninth, Polanco flied out to left, Torrens flied out to center, Ewing singled, and Lindor walked before Bichette flied out to right.

Pittsburgh finally broke through in the seventh. Gonzales doubled to left, and Simon singled to right, putting runners at the corners. Triolo then singled to left, scoring Gonzales and trimming the margin to 6-1. Flores walked to load the bases, and Mangum followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Simon and making it 6-2. With two outs, Lowe popped out to third. Triolo, who had advanced to third on the sacrifice fly, then attempted to score on a tag play. The Pirates challenged the call, but catcher Luis Torrens applied the tag on a throw from pitcher Jefry Yan, and the out was upheld to end the inning.

The Pirates made a final push in the ninth. Simon singled to left, and Endy Rodríguez flied out. Jacob Gonzalez then singled to right, scoring Simon and cutting the deficit to 6-3. Gonzalez was thrown out at second on the throw from right fielder Baty to shortstop Lindor. Mangum walked, and Lowe singled to center, scoring Mangum to make it 6-4. Reynolds grounded out to second baseman Semien to end the game.

Thornton, who had allowed three earned runs in his previous start against Atlanta on Aug. 1, bounced back with a strong outing. Daniel Duarte and Jefry Yan each provided a scoreless inning of relief, with Yan working around a one-out single in the eighth. Duarte struck out one and allowed one hit in the eighth, while Yan closed the eighth by getting Nick Gonzales to ground out.

Benge finished 2 for 2 with two RBIs and scored twice. Ewing had three hits, including two singles and a double, and scored two runs. Lindor went 2 for 4 with two singles and two walks. Baty had one hit. The Mets collected 10 hits.

The Pirates had 12 hits, with Triolo going 2 for 3 and driving in a run. Gonzales also had two hits, including a double, and scored once. Simon had two singles and scored twice. Lowe drove in the final run. Yohan Ramirez pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings for Pittsburgh, allowing one hit and striking out four. Luke Weaver contributed a scoreless inning, while Evan Sisk allowed one earned run over 1 2/3 innings.

The most important part of the game was the third inning, when the Mets turned a one-run lead into a five-run cushion. Benge’s two-out single started the rally, and Semien’s home run provided the decisive blow. That outburst gave Thornton all the support he needed and forced the Pirates to play catch-up the rest of the night.

The Mets entered the game having won three straight, including a 13-6 victory at Cleveland on Thursday. The Pirates had lost three consecutive games prior to Friday. The teams split a three-game series earlier this season at Citi Field, with the Mets winning two of three.

The attendance was 33,497, and the game lasted 2 hours, 53 minutes.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a 5-3 Mets victory. Interstat’s ELO system gave Pittsburgh a 54.20 percent probability to win, and the Pirates were installed as 1.5-run favorites. The combined score of 10 runs went under the over/under line of 8.5.