The New York Mets (15-15) fell to the Cincinnati Reds (13-17) by a score of 1-0 on Wednesday night at Citi Field. (Box Score)
Pitching
Jacob deGrom (2-3, 3.82 ERA) started the game for the Mets looking to rebound from a stretch of three rough starts. In those starts, he gave up 18 hits, eight walks, and 14 runs in 13 innings for a 9.69 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP.
The 2018 NL Cy Young award winner did just that as he pitched seven shutout innings. He allowed three hits and two walks, while striking out six Reds.
Ryan O’Rourke, who was called up from Triple-A Syracuse earlier in the day, made his Mets debut in the eighth. The 30-year-old southpaw retired his first two batters faced before giving up a four-pitch walk to Jesse Winker.
Seth Lugo replaced O’Rourke and was called upon to get the final out of the eighth. He was able to do so thanks to Jeff McNeil who caught a sharp line drive off the bat of Yasiel Puig.
Edwin Diaz came into the game during a non-save situation in the ninth. He followed up his rough outing on Monday by giving up another ninth-inning go-ahead home run; this time to Jose Iglesias.
Offense
Similarly to the games in which deGrom pitched well last year, the Mets’ bats were quiet in this game as well.
The Mets offense faced Anthony DeSclafani (1-1, 3.48 ERA) to start the game and struggled to get anything going against him. Pete Alonso hit a single in the first, McNeil hit a double in the third, Michael Conforto drew a walk in the fourth and Robinson Cano hit a double in the sixth.
Following Cano’s sixth-inning double, DeSclafani was pulled in favor of the Reds bullpen. The Mets did not fare much better against the Reds relievers as they combined for only two singles in 3 1/3 innings.
On Deck
The Mets conclude their four-game series with the Reds on Thursday afternoon. Noah Syndergaard (1-3, 6.35 ERA) will look to rebound from his tough stretch as he faces Tyler Mahle (0-3, 4.50 ERA) and the Reds. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. EDT with coverage on SNY, WCBS 880 AM and ESPN 1050 AM.
