As Americans worldwide celebrate the birth of America on July 4, The New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds opened a three-game series at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati Ohio. It was Taijuan Walker (6-2, 2.90 ERA) on the mound for the visiting Mets against Hunter Greene (3-9, 5.79 ERA) on the mound for the home Reds.

The Mets’ offensive came out swinging on Monday night as they took the 7-4 victory over the Reds on 7/4.

The Mets attempted to get some offensive fireworks started in the top of the first. Brandon Nimmo led off the top of the first with a single to right field off of Greene to open the game. Two batters later, with Francisco Lindor at the plate, Nimmo attempted to steal the first base of his career and was unsuccessful as he was picked off at second by Reds catcher Aramis Garcia to shortstop Matt Reynolds.

Following Nimmo’s pick-off, Lindor was hit by a pitch, representing the 54th Met to be hit by a pitch in 2022. Pete Alonso was then walked. He was followed by a Jeff McNeil two-out single to advance the runners and load the bases. The Mets were unable to produce, however, as Eduardo Escobar popped out to end the inning, leaving the bases loaded with Mets.

Walker came out for his first inning of work in the bottom of the first and he was dominant, retiring the side in order on two strikeouts and threw just eight pitches to quickly retire the Reds.

The fourth of July in-game fireworks started early and were lit up first by the Mets. Mark Canha was hit by a pitch to open the top of the second. He was the 55th batter hit by a pitch for the Mets. Two batters later, Tomas Nido singled to put runners on first and second with one out. He was followed by a three-home run by Nimmo to give the Mets a 3-0 lead over the Reds in the second. Nimmo’s home run was his second hit of the day and he was two-for-two through two innings.

Walker continued to cruise through the bottom of the second as he retired three of the four batters he faced in the inning and collecting his third strikeout of the day. He allowed just one single to Mike Moustakas in the second.

The Mets were retired in order in the third as they had their first relatively quiet inning of the game.

The Reds lit off their offensive fireworks in the bottom of the third. The inning was opened with Matt Reynolds being hit by a pitch and a single by Aramis Garcia to put two on with no outs for the Reds. Two batters later Brandon Drury hit a three-run home run to right field to tie the game 3-3 in the third.

For the second inning in a row, the Mets were retired in order in the fourth. It was also a quick bottom half of the inning as Walker retired three of the four Reds he faced to take the game to the fifth tied 3-3. He gave up a single to Nick Senzel with two out but retired Reynolds on a force out to end the inning.

The Mets regained the lead in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs Francisco Lindor launched a solo home run to right field to give the Mets a 4-3 lead over the Reds in the fifth.

Walker threw another strong inning in the bottom of the fifth. He walked Jonathan India with one out, but retired the other two batters he faced and India was caught stealing to get the Mets out of the inning.

The Mets continued to pour on the runs in the sixth. McNeil led off the top of the sixth with a single to right field. Two batters later Canha doubled to right field to advance McNeil to third to put two on with one out.

Canha’s double also forced the Reds to go to their bullpen. They brought in reliever Reiver Sanmartin to replace Greene on the mound.

Following the Reds’ call to the bullpen, Dominic Smith hit a two-run double to center field to score McNeil and Canha to extend the Mets’ lead over the Reds to 6-3 in the sixth with two outs. Nimmo then walked and the Mets again had two runners on with two outs as they continued to produce offensively against the Reds. Marte struck out to end the inning.

Walker threw another lights-out sixth inning as he retired the Reds in order and collected another strikeout as his dominant outing continued.

The Mets continued to produce offensively in the seventh. Lindor led-off the seventh with a single to left field. Three batters later Escobar singled to left field and scored Lindor to extend the Mets’ lead over the Reds to 7-3. Canha walked, but the Mets left two stranded as Smith lined out to end the inning.

Walker’s outing was done after six great innings as the Mets went to their bullpen in the bottom of the seventh. Drew Smith came in to replace Walker on the mound for the Mets. Walker comes out after a very strong nine strikeout outing for the Mets in which he gave up just three runs on four hits.

Taijuan Wallker’s final line:

6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR, 2.86 ERA

Smith’s outing started off shaky as two batters into the inning, he gave up a solo home run to Senzel to right field to bring the game to 7-4, decreasing the Mets’ lead to three runs. Reynolds then doubled, but after a mound visit he retired the next two batters he faced to get out of the inning.

The Reds went back to their bullpen in the eighth as Rosss Detwiler replaced Cessaa on the mound. The Mets went down fairly quiet against Detwiler. He retired three of the four batters he faced, giving up just a single to Marte in the inning.

As the game advanced to the bottom of the eighth, Colin Holderman came in to replace Drew Smith on the mound for the Mets. Holderman gave up a lead-off walk to Drury, but retired the next three batters he faced to get out of the inning unscathed.

Dauri Moreta came in to pitch the ninth for the Reds in relief of Detwiler. After a lead-off double by Alonso, Moreta retired the next three batters he faced, two on strikeouts to send the Mets and Reds to the bottom of the ninth.

Seth Lugo came in to replace Colin Holderman on the mound for the Mets in the ninth to try to close it out and secure the series-opening win. He did just that as he retired three of the four batters he faced in the inning as the Mets came away with the 7-4 win on 7/4! That win makes the Mets the first National League Team to 50 wins on the season.

Walker (7-2, 2.86 ERA) was credited with the win; Greene (3-10, 6.01 ERA) got the loss; Lugo (3, 3.45 ERA) was credited with the save.

MMO Player of the Game:

Brando Nimmo is your Metsmerized player of the game for Monday night. He was 2-for-4 with one run scored and three RBI’s in Monday’s Mets win.

Next Up:

The Mets and Reds continue their series Tuesday night at 6:40pm EST. Max Scherzer (5-1, 2.54 ERA) will make his return from the injured list and take the mound for the Mets against Nick Lodolo (1-2, 5.52 ERA) for the Reds.