Pirates 3, Mets 2: Pedro Alvarez’s RBI single in the eighth broke open a tie game as visiting Pittsburgh took three of four from New York.

Clint Barmes homered and joined Alvarez and Travis Snider with two hits for the Pirates, who won their first road series against the Mets since 2004. Justin Wilson (3-0) allowed the game-tying run in the seventh, but struck out four of the other five batters he faced.

Scott Rice (1-2) retired Snider to open the eighth, but yielded a one-out walk to Andrew McCutchen, who came around to score on Alvarez’s key hit. The Mets advanced a runner to third with one out in the bottom half, but Mark Melancon escaped the jam and Jason Grilli tossed a perfect ninth for his 15th save.

Lucas Duda provided a lift to the Mets’ offense in the second with a solo shot, but the Pirates evened it in the third with Barmes’ solo home run. Matt Harvey yielded Garrett Jones’ sacrifice fly after loading the bases with one out later in the inning, but avoided further damage when he retired Jordy Mercer.

Pittsburgh maintained a 2-1 lead until the seventh when John Buck drew a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch from Wilson and scored on Mike Baxter’s bloop single. However, the Pirates drew a pair of walks in the eighth and Alvarez greeted reliever Bobby Parnell with a liner over shortstop Ruben Tejada.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Harvey settled for his fourth straight no-decision, allowing two runs and five hits over seven innings. The 24-year-old, who struck out a season-low four, has yet to allow more than three runs in nine career home starts. … Pittsburgh won its first series – home or away – against the Mets since June 2009. …New York, which struck out 28 times over the final two games of this series, has scored a total of 32 runs over its last 13 home games.