The New York Mets avoided being swept by the Reds on Sunday afternoon with an 8-4 win at Citi Field. Cincinnati finishes up their road trip 4-2, dropping the final game of each series.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (78-73) |
4 | 9 | 3 |
| New York Mets (69-80) |
8 | 13 | 0 |
| W: Quintana (3-5) L: Williamson (4-5) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Reds didn’t take much time to grab a lead on Sunday afternoon. Nick Senzel, Tyler Stephenson, and Noelvi Marte all had singles in the 1st inning with Marte’s driving in a run and putting the Reds up 1-0.
Brandon Williamson had to work around an error in the 1st and a single in the 2nd, but he was able to keep the Mets off of the board. That wasn’t the case in the 3rd inning when New York put together a rally that began with back-to-back singles to open the inning. Williamson retired the next two batters, but then walked Francisco Lindor to load the bases. A wild pitch followed and that tied the game up with Tim Locastro coming in to score. Francisco Alvarez then doubled in two runs to put the Mets up 3-1.
Both clubs would strand two runners in the 4th inning. In the top of the 5th Nick Senzel brought the Reds within a run, crushing a 420-foot homer into the seats in left-center. The bottom of the frame saw the Mets pad their lead against Carson Spiers, who entered the game to begin the inning. Spiers would have been out of the inning cleanly, but a 2-out error extended the inning and New York took advantage of it by picking up an RBI hit from Mark Vientos that made it 4-2.
Carson Spiers was back on the mound for the bottom of the 6th and he had to work some magic to get out of some trouble. He allowed a leadoff double and then a 1-out single that put runners on the corners. Then with two outs he walked Francisco Lindor to load the bases, but he buckled down and struck out Francisco Alvarez to strand all three runners.
Joey Votto led off the 7th inning with a line drive double into the right field corner. Two outs later, though, he was still standing on second base. With Spencer Steer at the plate, a wild pitch moved Votto to third before Steer walked. The Mets called on Drew Smith out of the bullpen to try and shut down the inning. With Nick Senzel due up, but a righty taking over, the Reds called on TJ Friedl to pinch hit. He would fly out to right field to end the inning as New York held onto their 2-run lead.
That would be big because the Mets played add on in the bottom of the 7th. Carson Spiers was back on the mound and gave up a single before he fielding the next ball in play and threw it into center while trying to start a double play.He then walked the next batter to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach then came through with a 3-run double off of the wall in center. Ronny Mauricio would later pick up a 2-out RBI single that made it 8-2.
Hunter Renfroe led off the 8th inning with a walk and he would come around to score on a home run from Christian Encarnacion-Strand. That cut the Mets lead to 8-4. Former Red Brooks Raley took over for the Mets in the 9th and he needed just nine pitches to end the game. The Mets avoided being swept, but the Reds finished their road trip 4-2.
Key Moment of the Game
Daniel Vogelbach’s 3-run double in the 7th inning. It turned a 2-run game into a 5-run game and essentially put things out of reach for the Reds.
Notes worth noting
Miami put up 16 runs against Atlanta, picking up a win. Combined with the Reds loss, the Marlins are now a half-game up on Cincinnati in the wild card standings. Arizona hasn’t yet played, but they are tied with Miami currently.
The two teams combined for just eight strikeouts – Cincinnati’s pitchers had five and the Mets pitchers had three. What year is this?
Cincinnati made three errors in the game.
Joey Votto, Nick Senzel, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand all had two hits in the game.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Minnesota Twins vs Cincinnati Reds
Monday September 18th, 6:40pm ET
Joe Ryan (10-9, 4.20 ERA) vs TBA
