After a late blown lead on Saturday, the New York Mets (3-6) were hoping to leave Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati with a series victory over the Reds. Another strong start, albeit shaky at times and on the shorter side, from Sean Manaea, as well as a breakout of sorts by their star shortstop, the Mets were propelled to a 3-1 victory ensuring their first series victory of the season. New York has now won three of their last four games.

As mentioned, the Mets’ starting pitcher turned in another strong outing. Manaea allowed only one run and struck out six across five innings. He did walk two and hit a batter leading to some heavy traffic in the third and fourth innings. This helped shorten his day dramatically as he threw 92 pitches across those five frames. He has now pitched 11 innings this year, allowing only four hits and one run.

Behind Manaea, the Mets’ bullpen, who entered the day with the fifth-lowest ERA in the National League, held up tremendously. The unit did not allow a hit as Jorge López, Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, and Edwin Díaz all turned in scoreless frames. Díaz is nearly perfect in his return and nailed down his second save of the season.

As a team, New York held the Reds to a team xBA of .170. They only allowed three hits and struck out 12.

Francisco Lindor. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

Offensively, the Mets had their chances, but only were able to cash in three runs. All three of which came within the first four innings of the game. In the first inning, after a Francisco Lindor double, Francisco Alvarez singled and Lindor was able to come home via another Reds error.

The only other runs of the game for New York came via a Brandon Nimmo hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the second inning and Lindor’s first home run of the year in the fourth frame. New York ended up leaving eight men on base.

Outside of Lindor’s two hits, Starling Marte and Tyrone Taylor also tallied multi-hit games. Marte reached based three times, raising his on-base percentage to .351. Meanwhile, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo both went 0-for-4. Their struggles continue.

Statistic of the Game: Mets Bullpen Perfect

As mentioned above, the Mets’ bullpen was nearly perfect on Sunday. The unit did not allow a hit after Manaea exited the game after five innings. New York’s bullpen has been a strong suit early this season.

Player of the Game: Francisco Lindor

It was a much-needed big Sunday afternoon for the Mets’ star shortstop. His xBA, albeit still troublesome, of .210 entering the game was much higher than the average he entered with. This shows that Lindor had experienced a lot of bad luck to begin the season.

On Sunday, Lindor had two extra-base hits including his first home run of the season. It was a big afternoon for the switch-hitter who can hopefully parlay it into continued success going forward.

On Deck

The Mets are right back at tomorrow against the mighty Braves in Atlanta. First pitch is slated for 7:20 pm ET. The expected starters are Julio Teheran for the Mets and Charlie Morton for the Braves.