The Mets (67-74) crushed the Reds (66-75) by a score of 14-5 on Friday night in Cincinnati.
Bartolo Colon got the start for the Mets and pitched well, going 7 innings and giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and a walk, striking out 2 and throwing 85 pitches. Bartolo didn’t have his best stuff (not that his best stuff is that electric), but got the big outs when he needed them.
The Mets got on the board quickly, striking against Reds pitcher Alfredo Simon in the top of the first. Matt den Dekker worked a walk, took third on a base hit by David Wright (who then stole second), and scored on a single from Travis d’Arnaud. Curtis Granderson doubled to drive in Wright and make it 2-0 Mets, although the Mets missed a chance to do some massive early damage when Dilson Herrera flew out with 2 men in scoring position to end the inning.
Todd Frazier lined one into left-center with 1 out in the bottom of the first, but Juan Lagares made a great play to cut it off before it went into the gap, and Frazier, who was foolish enough to challenge Juan’s arm, was gunned down trying to stretch a single into a double. The next batter, Devin Mesoraco, hit one over the left-field wall for a solo shot (which would have been a 2-run shot if not for Lagares) to cut the Mets’ lead to 2-1.
Wilmer Flores led off the top of the 2nd with a double, and Bartolo Colon grounded one to shortstop Ramon Santiago who decided to go to third with the ball. Flores was called out, but after video review, it was determined that he had avoided the tag, and the Mets had men on the corners with no outs. Lagares grounded one to Frazier, who fired it home to nab Flores for the 1st out as Colon moved to 2nd. After den Dekker whiffed, Wright singled to load the bases (Colon held up at third, leaving unanswered the question of how large of a lane a catcher would be required to give on a play at the plate involving Bartolo). Lucas Duda then walked to force in Bartolo, who barely crossed the plate in time to beat the first pitch to the next batter (Travis d’Arnaud, who grounded out to end the inning).
After Herrera was unable to reel in a tough blooper hit well over his head by Brandon Phillips, Brayan Pena singled to put runners on first and 3rd as Phillips ran freely on Granderson’s weak arm to take the extra base. Jason Bourgeois grounded one back to Colon, who misplayed the ball. Bourgeois scored on the error as Phillips came in to score (they called it an earned run, which was probably the wrong decision, but you can’t really complain when the error was made by the pitcher). After a line-out and a sacrifice bunt, Colon escaped further damage by retiring Billy Hamilton to strand 2 men in scoring position.
Herrera singled in the top of the 3rd and advanced to 2nd when Frazier threw the ball away, but the Mets were unable to get him in. Frazier singled in the bottom of the frame, but then made yet another blunder, breaking for 2nd with Colon still on the mound. Colon stepped off, wheeled around, and fired to the bag to get Frazier and end the inning.
Lagares led off the top of the 4th with a single and moved to 2nd on a groundout by MDD. After Wright struck out, Simon intentionally walked Duda to pitch to d’Arnaud, who made him pay. Travis busted one (pun sarcastically and gloatingly intended) into the left-field seats to put New York up 6-2.
JJ Hoover came in to relieve Simon and pitch the top of the 5th for Cincy, but didn’t end up providing much relief, serving up a meatball to Wilmer Flores, who crushed it out to left for his 3rd homer of the season.
Ryan Dennick came out to the mound for the Reds to try his hand in the top of the 6th, and made a terrific play to retire den Dekker on a bunt attempt before allowing a single to Wright. Duda popped out, and d’Arnaud lined a single into center, bringing Granderson to the plate with 2 men on and 2 out. Curtis got a pitch to hit on 3-1 and got all of hit, sending it over the wall in right for his 17th dinger of the year. Herrera singled for his 2nd hit of the game, but Flores flew out against Logan Ondrusek to end the inning.
Colon cruised through the bottom of the 6th and led off the top of the 7th at the plate, striking out against Ondrusek (remarkably his first strikeout of the game, in his 4th at-bat). Ondrusek then retired Lagares before walking den Dekker, who scored when Wright doubled for his 4th hit of the ballgame to make it 11-2 Mets.
Dilson Herrera led off the top of the 8th in style against Daniel Corcino, lining one into the stands in left field for his 2nd career home run and his 3rd hit of the game.
Buddy Carlyle came in for Colon to pitch the bottom of the 8th and was greeted rudely by Frazier, who hit a home run over the fence in center, just out of Juan’s reach.
After pinch-hitter Josh Satin was drilled by Corcino to start the top of the 9th, Duda got ahold of one and crushed it to center for his 27th home run of the campaign, putting New York up 14-3. The Mets got a couple more baserunners when Juan Centeno got a pinch-hit single and Herrera walked, but did not add any more runs to their season-high tally of 14.
Erik Goeddel (I don’t know who that is either) came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th for the Mets and was a bit shaky. Chris Heisey led off the frame with a pinch-hit single. After Bourgeois lined out to center, Santiago singled on a blooper which Dilson should have caught, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. A wild pitch (which should have been scored a passed ball against Centeno) moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and Jack Hannahan brought them both in with a single to make the score 14-5 New York.However, Goeddel bounced back and fanned Hamilton for his first career strikeout, before getting Frazier to pop out to end the ballgame.
Well, that was fun. Granderson homered, Dilson Homered, Travis homered, Wilmer homered, Duda homered, Wright was great, Colon was good AND SCORED A RUN, and Lagares did something cool. A pretty solid all-around game if you ask me!
Seriously, the Mets would be more fun to watch, and in my opinion, better, if they played in a hitter-friendly park (or maybe even a neutral one). The Mets’ pitching is better than their hitting. So if their home ballpark is going to give a handicap to one group, shouldn’t that group be the offense?
Dilson is doing pretty well for himself considering he’s just 20 years old. He needs to become more polished in the field, and he’s not a finished product at the plate, but there have been some encouraging signs from him so far. Should the Mets try to find both him and Murphy a spot in the lineup next year? Should they trade Murphy (it better be for a good hitter)? Should they let Dilson hone his skills for a bit in Triple A? Should they put Dilson in a package for an established, game-changing bat? I’m not sure, and the Mets will have to deal with these questions in the offseason. But it’s hard to complain about the “Dilson Experiment” so far.
Wright has been picking things up of late, and had 4 hits tonight. According to Gary Cohen, he has never had 5 hits in a game, despite reaching 4 on 20 different occasions. With that being the case, I would have liked to see Terry Collins leave David in there for his 5th at-bat. Milestones aside, David should not be taken out of a game in which he is playing well, especially given that he needs to finish the season strong (if for nothing more than the organization’s peace of mind).
Lucas is closing in on 30, and it’d be nice to see him get to that benchmark. He’s done nearly all of it against righties. Given his struggles against lefties, should the Mets try to find a righty to platoon with him next year, or should they let him try to figure it out and keep him in the lineup (and presumably in rhythm every day? I’d lean towards the latter, especially since there aren’t many quality right-handed 1st basemen available (and we have Eric Campbell).
The Mets are swinging the bats well lately. Hopefully they keep it up as we head into the home stretch of the 2014 season.
