The Mets (86-67) grabbed a 6-4 road win over the Reds (63-89) on Thursday night in Cincinnati.
Steven Matz pitched for the Mets and was okay. The rookie gave up 3 runs on 10 hits in 5.2 innings, striking out 8 and walking none.
The Reds took an early lead, stringing together three consecutive singles in the bottom of the first, including an RBI single form Brandon Phillips.
The Mets got to Reds pitcher Josh Smith in the top of the third.. After Steven Matz hustled to take advantage of a lazy play from Eugenio Suarez at short and reach with an infield hit, he advanced to second on a sharp grounder from Curtis Granderson and scored on a double by David Wright. A single from Daniel Murphy moved The Captain to third, and he scored on a sacrifice fly from Yoenis Cespedes to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. The Mets added another run an on RBI double from Lucas Duda.
Matz settled in for a couple innings, but the Reds once again solved the hard-throwing lefty and started stringing hits together. The Cincy got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on another base-hit from Phillips, and tied it in the next inning when Adam Duvall hit a ball to third that took a tough hop and deflected up and over David Wright for what was ruled an RBI single. That would be the last batter Matz would face; Erik Goeddel came in and struck out one hitter (which was enough to “earn” him the win).
The Mets took the lead right back in the top of the seventh. A single from Granderson and a triple by Murphy put the visitors up 4-3, and Cespedes’ rope up the middle brought Murph home to add an insurance run. The Mets would tack on one more with Lucas Duda’s second RBI double of the night.
After Addison Reed pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh, the Reds cut it to two with Jay Bruce‘s solo shot off of Hansel Robles. But Jeurys Familia shut the door in the ninth for his 42nd save of the year, bringing him within one of the franchise record set by Armando Benitez in 2001.
The Nationals lost tonight, so the Mets’ magic number is 3.
This was a win the Mets really needed (albeit not from a standings standpoint). People have been talking about them “backing in” to the playoffs. They need a nice run to give them some momentum heading into their all-but-inevitable series with the Dodgers, especially since there’s still a decent chance they can grab home-field advantage for that matchup.
Matz was getting slapped around tonight, with the Reds hitting single after single. But he avoided the big blow, and his control was solid. He really hasn’t had his best stuff from the look of things, which is what makes his strong results so encouraging.
Still, he hasn’t done enough to lock up a spot in the playoff rotation. The Mets have Matt Harvey and, despite some recent struggles, Jacob deGrom should be reliable as well (although he could really use a couple good starts to finish the regular season). The rest of the pitchers are less reliable. Can Matz and Syndergaard be counted on to give the team their best in October? Can Colon pitch against out-of-division teams? Will we get Good Jon Niese or Bad Jon Niese?
The bullpen is more of a concern. They did pretty well tonight, although Robles struggled again, giving up the homer. If Robles, Clippard, Reed, and Familia can take care of business in the playoffs, the Mets become a very, very hard team to beat.
And, of course, there’s the offense. They’ve been a bit quiet lately, but they had a solid showing tonight, and they weren’t dependent on the long-ball. Definitely a good sign.
Cespedes is picking it back up after his mini-slump. Murphy and The Captain are hitting well, and Duda is rounding into form. Watch out, Clayton. Good night, Washington.
Up Next: The Mets will continue their series with the Reds on Friday night in Cincinnati. Noah Syndergaard (8-7, 3.39 ERA) will face Anthony DeSclafani (9-11, 3.79 ERA) at 7:10 PM.
