PITTSBURGH — From deciding to meet to dead meat, the Mets’ weekend by the Three Rivers couldn’t have proceeded much worse. Rule No. 1 for players only meetings is generally to hold them a night before your ace is scheduled to pitch. But the Mets barely have five pitchers to fill out a starting rotation these days, never mind an ace.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had their best offensive game of the season, as they demolished the New York Mets, 12-2 at PNC Park. The Pirates complete the sweep of the Mets, as they also won 9-1 on June 27 and 9-2 on June 28.

A 3-13 slide has caused the New York Mets to go from being ahead by 5 1/2 games in the National League East to 1 1/2 games behind.