After winning three in a row against the Diamondbacks, the Mets continued their homestand Friday night with the first game in a three-game series against the Reds. David Peterson got the start for New York, while flamethrower Hunter Greene was on the mound for Cincinnati. The Mets played behind for most of the game, briefly tying it on a clutch home run from Pete Alonso, but they immediately fell behind again and couldn’t recover, losing the game 5-3.

Peterson looked comfortable throughout his outing, tying a career-high with 10 strikeouts and walking just two batters over 5 2/3 innings. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that he found himself in trouble, and it was the defense that let him down.

In his first game in the big leagues at third base, Ronny Mauricio couldn’t handle a tough hop which allowed Noelvi Marte to advance from first to third. A wild pitch in the following at-bat allowed Marte to break for the plate, and a clean throw by Omar Narváez likely would have thrown him out, but Narváez threw it into the infield to give the Reds a 1-0 advantage.

The Reds tacked on the following inning as Peterson grew fatigued. Spencer Steer hit a two-run homer to extend the Reds’ lead to 3-0. After getting two outs, Peterson allowed two more baserunners to reach which would ultimately end his outing. Over the 5 2/3 innings he pitched, Peterson gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks while tallying double-digit strikeouts in another promising performance for the former first-round pick.

Unfortunately for the Mets, though, Greene was at the top of his game, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning. After allowing a leadoff double to Jeff McNeil which broke up the no-hitter, Greene still managed to escape the inning scoreless before getting into trouble yet again in the sixth inning. With two outs and two runners on, Reds’ manager David Bell decided to show faith in his young starter by leaving him in there to face Pete Alonso who served as the tying run.

Bell’s decision quickly backfired as Alonso unloaded a three-run shot into the seats in left field to tie the game and put a damper on what was an otherwise brilliant outing from Greene. Alonso’s homer, his 45th of the year, put the game back at square one.

With the game squared at 3-3, the Reds wasted no time regaining the lead. His former teammate at the University of Florida, Jonathan India, punched right back in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run homer off Grant Hartwig to put the Reds ahead once again, this time 5-3.

The Mets had multiple opportunities late to at least tie the game, putting the tying runs on base in both the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Ian Gibaut got Mark Vientos to ground into a crucial double play to hinder the Mets’ scoring threat before Alexis Díaz, the younger brother of Edwin Díaz, silenced the Mets’ threat the following inning.

The Reds kept Díaz on the mound for the bottom of the ninth, relying on him to record a five-out save. Without much trouble, Díaz set the Mets’ batters down in order to give the Reds a 5-3 win. The loss for the Mets dropped their season record down to 68-79 as the team inches closer to clinching a losing season.

Player of the Game

Despite not earning a win, David Peterson’s start makes him absolutely deserving of the Metsmerized player of the game. He kept the Mets in the game, going toe-to-toe with Hunter Greene, who looked phenomenal before allowing the three-run home run to Pete Alonso in the sixth inning. Peterson’s 10 strikeouts along with just two walks is a very positive sign for a pitcher who has struggled with command his entire career.

On Deck

The series with the Reds will continue on Saturday evening with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET. Tylor Megill (8-7, 5.03 ERA) takes the mound for the Mets, looking to continue a good stretch of starts. On the other side, rookie southpaw Andrew Abbott (8-5, 3.64 ERA) gets the start for the Reds. The game will be broadcast on SNY and can be listened to on WCBS 880.