The Mets and Reds opened a three-game series on Friday night at Citi Field and it was “Blackout Night” as the Mets once again dawned their black jerseys by fan request for the first time since 2012. Writers who were at the game, which followed the announcement that the Mets had acquired Javier Baez, said the stadium was “hopping,” and that there was a great energy among the fans, as well as the players coming into Friday night’s game.

It was former New York Yankee Sonny Gray taking the mound for the Reds against Carlos Carrasco who was making his New York Mets debut.

Carrasco’s outing started rough as he gave up a lead-off home run to Jonathan India on the first pitch of the game that gave Cincinnati a quick 1-0 lead. Carrasco settled in after that though as he then retired the next three batters he faced and collected his first strikeout as a Met with a strikeout of Joey Votto.

The Mets offense answered with a run in the bottom half.  Brandon Nimmo led off with a single on a line drive to right field. Jeff McNeil then stroked an RBI double that scored Nimmo to tie the game at one. With one runner on, Pete Alonso walked, followed by a single by Dominic Smith to center field to load the bases.

With bases loaded, the Reds took their first mound visit of the game to settle Gray down. He followed  with a strikeout of Michael Conforto and forced Jonathan Villar into a double play to get out of the bases loaded jam without allowing any other damage.

Carrasco began to settle in during the top of the second. He gave up a one-out single to Tucker Barnhart, but struck out two during the inning and forced a ground out with two outs to end the inning.

The Mets came back to the plate and for the second inning row, led off with a lead-off single, this one by Tomas Nido, to center field. The Mets failed to produce, however as Luis Guillorme grounded into a double play and Carrasco struck out to end the inning.

The pitchers duel continued into the fourth inning as Carrasco gave up only one hit in the inning, a double to Tyler Naquin to right field, but retired the other batters he faced to keep the Reds at bay

The fourth inning would be the last inning for Carrasco in his Mets debut as Luis Rojas made his first call to the bullpen, bringing in Miguel Castro to replace Carlos Carrasco on the mound for the Mets in the fifth.

Carlos Carrasco’s final line:

4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 2.25 ERA

Castro struggled in his first inning of relief. After getting two quick outs, he gave up a double to India, followed by an RBI single to Jesse Winker to left field that scored India to give the Reds a 2-1 lead over the Mets in the fifth.

Luis Rojas once again went to his bullpen in the sixth. He brought in Drew Smith to replace Castro on the mound for the Mets in the sixth.

Miguel Castro’s final line:

1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.50 ERA

Smith’s outing started similar to Carrasco’s. He gave up a lead-off solo home run on a 2-0 count to Votto that extended the Reds’ lead over the Mets to 3-1 in the sixth. Other than a 2-out walk, Smith settled in to get out of the inning.

The Reds went to their bullpen for the first time in the bottom of the seventh, bringing in Michael Lorenzen to replace Gray on the mound for the Reds. Lorenzen kept the Mets quiet, retiring Conforto, Villar, and Nido in order for the fourth straight inning.

Luis Rojas made another call to the bullpen in the eighth, replacing Smith on the mound with Anthony Banda.

Smith’s final line:

2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 2.80 ERA

Banda has pitched well as of late and continued to look strong in the eighth. In his first inning of work he collected three strikeouts and gave up just one walk.

The Reds went to their bullpen as well in the eighth, bringing in Mychal Givens to replace Lorenzen on the mound for the Reds.

After a strong first inning of relief on the mound, Banda struggled in the ninth, giving up a lead-off single to Eugenio Suarez, followed by a double to Tyler Stephenson to put runners on second and third with no outs. He then gave up a sacrifice fly to Aristides Aquino that scored Suarez to extend the Reds’ lead to 4-1.

Then, Banda gave up a two-run home run to India (India’s second home run of the night) that extended the Reds’ lead over the Mets to 6-1 in the ninth. That was India’s first two-home run game of his career. Fans began to show their displeasure, as the stands began to clear in the top half of the ninth with the Mets down by five. On a night in which was the return of the black jerseys, the Mets struggled to produce offensively once again.

Following the home run to India, Banda forced Winker to ground out, but then gave up a double to Farmer to center to keep the long top half of the ninth inning alive. Banda got out of the inning with a fly out of Votto to end the inning.

But the damage was done as the Reds had a 6-1 lead over the Mets heading into the bottom of the ninth. They needed to produce big and rally if they wanted to come back.

Anthony Banda‘s final line:

2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 7.36 ERA

The Mets tried to make a comeback. With two outs, Villar singled to right field, followed by an RBI double by Brandon Drury to score Villar and bring the Mets within four.

After a walk, McCann struck out to end the inning and the game as the Reds went on to defeat the Mets 6-2  and take game one of the series.

Gray (3-6) was credited with the win and Castro (2-3) suffered the loss.

The Mets and Reds will continue their series on Saturday night at 7:10 PM. It will be Rich Hill taking the mound for the Mets in game two against Wade Miley for the Reds.