The Mets (55-61) lost to the Reds (70-46) by the score of 3-0 tonight at the Great American Ball Park.

I know that not everybody out there is a fan of a good pitching duel and games like these can be boring. As much as I found myself frustrated tonight, it was a pretty good game all around, and our offense just could not pull through in the clutch.

Chris Young was the designated starter for this game and he pitched well – in fact, this is what I have come to expect to be a typical Chris Young start. He pitched into the sixth, going 5.2 innings and allowing zero runs. He allowed eight hits and four walks over that span and somehow kept the Reds off the board. The Mets seem to have a nice set of starters that are good at pitching to the game and keeping their team in the game. This also extends to the injured Dillon Gee. Ramirez picked up the last out in the sixth. Parnell danced a dangerous dance in the seventh, but used two strikeouts to get out of a self-created jam (a hit/two walks.) Rauch pitched a perfect eighth with a strikeout…and then came trouble.

Acosta allowed a hit and a walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and from there, Josh Edgin entered to face Jay Bruce. A good confrontation, but Bruce’s experience definitely showed against Edgin’s inexperience as he fought off tough pitches in a good AB – culminating in a heart breaking three-run walk off HR.

The Mets had their chances, but Latos stifled them pretty well with some great pitches when he needed to. Chris Young made an out in the fourth with the bases loaded after a Thole IBB, and a nasty curveball in the seventh shut down Tejada with Thole on second base. Tejada hit the ball hard in the ninth with men on second and third, but there was nothing to show for it.

Good baseball game overall, really. That is, of course, purely my opinion. It was tough to watch on our end.

Notes

No starter had two hits.

10 men LOB because of 0-8 with RISP.

Stolen base number 7 for Hairston / Caught Stealing number 9 for David Wright.

Mets picked up Kelly Shoppach from the Red Sox through a waiver deal for a PTBNL. Nice move there.

Collins openly considered a six-man rotation, with Hefner being the sixth man. Thoughts?

Up Next

The series continues tomorrow evening with resident ace RA Dickey (15-3, 2.72) (Wow that is a great stat line.) against Mike Leake (4-7, 4.51) at 7:10 PM.