Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets visited the struggling Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday evening at Great American Ball Park. Playing game two of a three-game series, the start of the game was delayed to local storms. The Reds entered play with the least amount of wins in the National League with 27, which is tied with the Oakland Athletics for the least wins in MLB.
Two pitchers making their return fresh off the injured list, Max Scherzer faced off against the 6’6″southpaw Nick Lodolo.
Scherzer and Lodolo matched zeroes throughout the first four innings, both pitchers making it look like they hadn’t missed any time. Scherzer made it deep into the game, but the Mets fell short to the Reds by the score of 1-0 on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Mike Moustakas.
The Mets were able to collect some hits throughout the game, tallying six total, but they were unable to get the big hit needed to put them in the driver’s seat with their ace on the mound.
After Starling Marte walked in the first inning, he swiped his 10th bag of the season. With the heart of the lineup due up, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso both struck out swinging to end the scoring chance. Brandon Nimmo also struck out to begin the game. Lodolo tallied three strikeouts in the first frame. Perhaps the best scoring opportunity for New York all night.
Scherzer began his night with a 1-2-3 inning against the Reds top of the lineup. He ran into some early trouble after giving up a one-out single to the veteran utility man Donovan Solano. Subsequently, Scherzer plunked former Mets nemesis Mike Moustakas, making it two on with one out. He won the battle against the next two batters, striking out the former Mets second-round pick Matt Reynolds to escape the jam.
In his second at-bat of the day, Marte smoked a line drive to center field at 109.7mph. Marte attempted to steal his 11th bag of the year but didn’t stick it out as he halted to a stop and was thrown out at first base while trying to retreat. Lindor struck out for the second time of the night to end the inning.
The Reds’ offense seemed to pick up some steam in the bottom of the eighth inning when Nick Senzel led off with a single and Reynolds reached base on a walk. Tommy Hunter found himself in trouble after allowing the first two hitters to reach base.
Catcher Michael Papierski laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third, but Hunter was able to induce a weak popup from Jonathan India and a Brandon Drury fly ball to end the Reds’ scoring opportunity. Hunter has now amassed seven innings of one-run ball in relief for the Mets this year.
The first nine hits of the game were all singles until Tommy Pham stepped up to the box in the bottom of the ninth inning in a tie ballgame and slapped a double past the glove of a sprinting Marte.
Seth Lugo found himself in a high-pressure situation after the Mets decided to intentionally walk Tyler Naquin. Hoping a mound visit would keep Lugo calm, he then walked Solano to load the bases with no outs, giving Moustakas a chance to win the game. Moustakas lifted a fly ball deep to center field, allowing Pham to score the winning run.
Player of the Game: Max Scherzer
Returning to the Mets rotation for the first time in 49 days, Scherzer proved again why he set the highest annual salary record within the history of the sport.
He tossed six scoreless innings with 11 punchouts, throwing just 79 pitches on the night. A near-perfect start, he allowed only two base hits. Although the Mets didn’t get in the win column, it was an important outing for Scherzer to get back into the swing of things. The Mets stayed atop of the NL East throughout Scherzer’s absence, and he’ll need to play a significant role to keep them in the lead.
On Deck
The Mets will complete their trip in Cincinnati on Wednesday evening at 6:40 p.m.
David Peterson (5-1, 3.24 ERA, 60 SO) will match up against Graham Ashcraft (4-2, 4.53 ERA, 28 SO) in the rubber match. It is an important game for the Mets as the Braves inch closer to the top of the division.
