The New York Mets (14-14) were defeated by the Cincinnati Reds (12-16) by a score of 5-4 (Box Score).

Coming off his best start of the season, Zack Wheeler (2-2, 5.05 ERA) had a subpar night overall due to a rough second inning. Wheeler went six innings allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking three.

The Mets battled back from a four-run deficit to even the score at four apiece following back-to-back walks in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Unfortunately the bats were unable to scratch across anymore runs as they ultimately lost on a go-ahead home run by Jesse Winker off of Edwin Diaz in the ninth inning. The Mets have now fallen back to .500.

Offense

After going down 1-2-3 in the first inning against Reds starter Tanner Roark (1-1, 4.08 ERA), Michael Conforto got things started in the bottom of the second with a leadoff double.

Two batters later, Wilson Ramos smashed the second double of the inning to put the Mets on the board with their first run. Amed Rosario knocked in the second run of the inning on an RBI single, which cut the Reds lead to 4-2.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Mets offense would produce a two-out rally. Juan Lagares provided the initial spark by drawing a walk, which was followed up by a Wheeler single and a Jeff McNeil walk to load the bases.

Roark continued to fall apart in the inning by walking Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo to force in the third and fourth runs to tie the game at four.

Roark only lasted a short 3 2/3 innings allowing four runs on four hits, four walks, and three strikeouts.

The Mets bats stalled the rest of the night as they were unable to score anymore runs, leaving a total of 13 men on base for the game.

Closer Raisel Iglesias came on to pitch the last two innings for the Reds and struck out the final four batters he faced to ultimately pick up the win for his club.

Pitching

Wheeler started off his night by working around a single to retire three of the first four batters he faced.

In the top of the second inning, Wheeler ran into some trouble. The right-hander walked the first two batters he faced and then surrendered a double to Jose Iglesias, which put the Reds on the board with their first run of the game.

Wheeler’s struggles in the inning did not end there as Tucker Barnhart drove in the second run on an RBI single. Despite a Roark strikeout, the Reds bats weren’t finished as Jose Peraza doubled to score Iglesias for the third run of the frame. Eugenio Suarez capped off the four-run inning with a sac-fly to center field to extend the Reds’ lead to 4-0.

Although Wheeler had a rough second inning, he came back to pitch four shutout frames, while striking out three more batters to end his night after six.

Seth Lugo came on to pitch the top of the seventh and threw a clean inning, striking out two batters.

The struggling Jeurys Familia was back out there to pitch the eighth. Unfortunately, Familia’s recent command issues were still a problem due to the fact that he walked the leadoff man and then hit Iglesias with a pitch to put two on with no outs.

Barnhart then moved the runners over to second and third with a sac-bunt. The Mets opted to intentionally walk Derek Dietrich to bring Peraza up to the plate. Familia was then able to get out of the jam by inducing an inning-ending double play

Mickey Callaway called upon his closer Diaz for the third straight day in a tied game in the ninth. After Diaz recorded the first two outs, he surrendered the go-ahead home run to Winker, which put the Reds ahead 5-4.

On Deck

Jason Vargas (1-1, 7.20 ERA) takes the mound in game two of this series to face Reds pitcher and major league baseball’s current ERA leader Luis Castillo (3-1, 1.23 ERA). First pitch will be at 7:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be on SNY and WCBS 880.