The Reds squeaked out a win against the Mets today in Cincinnati. Reds starter Johnny Cueto racked up his 17th win of the season (17-8, 2.23) tossing seven innings and giving up only one run while striking out eight. Dillon Gee was on the losing side, throwing seven strong innings but giving up two solo homeruns.
The Mets almost were able to stage a miraculous comeback in the ninth inning against shut down closer Aroldis Chapman. Chapman made quick work of Travis d’Arnaud getting him to softly ground out to center. Granderson followed d’Arnaud with a single to RF. Collins puts in Eric Young jr. to run for Grandy and he went to work quickly. He stole second and was able to get inside Chapman’s head which led to Herrera reaching on a four pitch walk. Collins continued to be aggressive by putting on the double steal and the gamble seemed to pay off as Young was originally called safe.
However, Reds Manager Bryan Price urgently came out to challenge and it seems upon coming up from the slide Young was tagged out. To many it seemed as if Young may have been pushed off the bag and after the game Collins had a quick conversation with the home plate ump. In his post game comments Collins was asked how the overturned called affected the team. “It certainly took a little starch out.”
Collins also said that if Herrera was a little more experienced he probably would have tried to double steal again with two outs. Collins aggressiveness against Chapman was the correct call as it clearly flustered Chapman, but his post game comments were odd – you never make the third out stealing third base.
Gee pitched well enough to win by only allowing two runs but had the misfortune of pitching against one of the N.L’s best in Cueto. Gee had his curve working most of the day, tying hitters up, but his slider was awful. He left too many of them hanging over the plate and Frazier crushed one for the Reds first run. He has given up 11 home runs in nine starts since coming off the DL and the game winning homer was the first Gee has given up on a first-pitch this season.
This game gave us a few interesting points of discussion. Do you think Eric Young Jr. was pushed off third base? If you were Terry Collins would you break one of baseball’s cardinal unwritten rules and try and steal third with two outs? Can Travis d’Arnaud keep this hot streak going into next season? Tweet me your ideas and opinions @joe_pic.
The Mets look to take the series tie tomorrow against the Reds as Zack Wheeler (9-9, 3.45) faces Mat Latos (5-4, 3.46) at 1:10 p.m..
