The Pittsburgh Pirates were full of mishaps against the New York Mets, with the most damage coming when DJ Stewart was at the plate. He also was dangerous in right field, helping to prevent a couple of runs.

Stewart hit a pair of home runs and was involved in a key play at the plate as the Mets beat the Pirates, 8-3, to win the three-game series Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field. The Pirates are off Thursday before playing a three-game weekend series at the Minnesota Twins.

The Pirates got a second consecutive uneven start from right-hander Johan Oviedo, who allowed four runs on five hits and five walks in four innings. In his previous start, Oviedo gave up six runs on five hits and two walks, hitting three batters and throwing two wild pitches.

Oviedo said he had trouble finding the strike zone with his fastball.

“That was the only pitch that I couldn’t throw for a strike. It was bad today,” Oviedo said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “I’ve been feeling great. The fastball just hasn’t been there the last two games, so I’ve got to keep working on that.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton said the club is monitoring the workload for Oviedo, who has thrown a career-high 140 1/3 innings this season. Oviedo threw 43 of his 78 pitches for strikes, but generated misses on only two of his 15 fastballs that got swings.

“I think that was the overall theme,” Shelton said. “We just didn’t throw enough strikes.”

In the second inning, Stewart hit an Oviedo curveball 387 feet and off the second deck for his second home run in as many days. Omar Narvaez followed with a double, and Oviedo walked Rafael Ortega, then both runners advanced when Oviedo was called for a balk. Francisco Lindor’s two-out single to left drove in both as the Mets took a 3-0 lead in the second inning.

“I just try to keep it simple,” Oviedo said. “You want to make really good pitches so you can have soft contact or swing and misses. Lindor put a swing on a really good fastball. You just tip your cap.”

Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the third with a double to left, and Bryan Reynolds drove an 0-2 fastball 376 feet to left-center for a two-run home run to cut it to 3-2. It was the 18th homer for Reynolds, whose nine homers since July 23 ranks behind only the Mets’ Pete Alonso and Atlanta’s Matt Olson in that span.

“Just good overall swings,” Shelton said. “At the top of the order, Ke’Bryan and Bryan had good at-bats throughout the entire series.”

The Mets increased their lead in the fourth, when Ortega doubled to right and scored on Brandon Nimmo’s single to left to make it 4-2.

The Pirates had a scoring chance thwarted in the fifth, when Andrew McCutchen drew a two-out walk but was thrown out trying to score on Jack Suwinski’s double to the right-field corner. Stewart barehanded the ball when it bounced off the wall and, and second baseman Jeff McNeil made a pinpoint relay to Narvaez for the tag.

“It’s two outs. They executed a relay play perfectly,” Shelton said. “The ball kicked and stopped, and McNeil made a nice throw on it. It’s just one of those baseball plays.”

After Oviedo walked Alonso to start the bottom of the fifth, he was pulled in favor of lefty Ryan Borucki. Alonso was caught stealing second when shortstop Alika Williams held the tag as Alonso slid off the bag, which saved a run when Daniel Vogelbach walked and Stewart drilled a full-count slider 398 feet to right for a two-run homer and a 6-2 lead.

Connor Joe worked an 11-pitch at-bat for a single to start the sixth, advanced to second when Alfonso Rivas was hit by a pitch and scored on a bloop single to right by Williams to cut it to 6-3.

When the Pirates turned to lefty Jose Hernandez in the seventh, Alonso hammered a 1-1 fastball at an exit velocity of 112.2 mph that sailed 389 feet to left for his 36th home run. Hernandez walked McNeil, who reached third on an error by first baseman Rivas on a Narvaez grounder, and scored on Ortega’s single to stretch it to 8-3.

Hayes went 6 for 14 (.429) in the series and hit a pair of deep fly balls in his final two at-bats, including one to the warning track in center with Henry Davis on first in the ninth. Over the past nine games, Hayes is hitting .444 (15 for 36) with seven extra-base hits and 11 RBIs.

“He’s on time. That’s the biggest thing,” Shelton said. “We’re seeing the ball get elevated now to all fields. He’s swung the bat about as good as you could the last 10 days. … We were about five feet away from him hitting two homers. Good swings throughout the game for him. Just didn’t get that extra five feet we needed on both of them.”

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