KSReds: Cincinnati Reds Win Series Against New York Mets

After two straight series losses, the Cincinnati Reds are back in the win column.

The Reds successfully took two out of three games from New York Mets to move to 16-21 on the season. Meanwhile, the Mets have lost 13 of their last 17 games. A series sweep would have been very possible had the offense not gone completely cold on Wednesday evening. After getting on the board in the first inning, the Reds did not record another hit the rest of the game. Justin Verlander was dominant and the bullpen finished off eight straight innings of no-hit baseball.

The bats may have gone cold on Wednesday, but they were hot on the bookends of the series. Specifically, they were hot early on in games. For the series, Cincinnati scored six runs on 10 hits in the first innings against the Mets. That early offense proved to be enough even on Tuesday evening when the Mets came roaring back from a 7-1 deficit to make it 7-6. All in all, it is about stacking wins and the Reds did that in two out of three games at Great American Ball Park.

Now the Reds will hit the road and head south to Miami to take on the Marlins. The three-game weekend series will begin at 6:40 p.m. EST on Friday night with Graham Ashcraft taking the mound. Nick Lodolo and Luke Weaver are set to pitch on Saturday and Sunday respectively. 20-yea- old Eury Perez, a 6’8″ 220-pound top prospect, will make his Major League debut on Friday night for the Marlins, which enter the series at 19-19.

Reds Hold on for 7-6 Series Opening Victory

The Reds got off to a hot start and then hung on for dear life.

Nick Senzel doubled and Tyler Stephenson brought him in with a RBI single to get on the board. Then, two runs came across in the second inning without the ball even leaving the infield. Kevin Newman drew a leadoff walk followed by a TJ Friedl infield single that advanced Newman to third. After Friedl stole second base, Jonathan India drove in a run with a groundout to third. Another infield single by Senzel brought Friedl in and it was 3-0 Reds.

In the fourth and fifth innings, the offense kept rolling. India drove in runs with a double and sacrifice fly. Meanwhile, Friedl drove in two runs with a triple in the fifth. Cincinnati was feeling good with a 7-1 lead, but it was about to get very interesting at Great American Ball Park.

Home runs in the sixth and seventh innings started to bring the New York Mets back. Francisco Alvarez hit his second long ball of the game and then Pete Alonso went deep that made it 7-3.

The Mets added another run in the seventh, but the Reds turned a double play as it happened to help get out of a jam. Another home run in the eighth inning by Francisco Lindor brought the Mets within one at 7-6, but that is as close as they would get. Alexis Diaz recorded the final four outs of the game to secure the series-opening win for the Reds.

Hunter Greene Continues to Lack Run Support

Posting a 3.69 earned run average through eight starts would lead you to expect some level of success. However, Hunter Greene is now 0-3 on the season after the Cincinnati Reds lost 2-1 on Wednesday night. So far this season the Reds are averaging just a tick over three runs per game when their 23-year-old star takes the mound. That will need to change going forward.

For the second straight night, the Reds got on the board in their first at-bat. Jonathan India led the game off with a single to left field. After TJ Friedl struck out, Spencer Steer just missed sending one out of the ballpark to deep left field. Then, Jake Fraley turned on one and doubled off of the very top of the wall in right field to bring India around and take a 1-0 advantage.

However, those two hits would prove to be the only offense Cincinnati provided all game long.

One mistake pitch to Pete Alonso made it 1-1 in the second inning. The Mets then took the lead in the top of the fourth when Brandon Nimmo singled to score Luis Guillorme. That 2-1 lead would be all the New York pitching staff would need to even up the series.

Three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander settled in after the first and threw six straight no-hit, shutout innings to earn his first win of the season. Adam Ottavino threw the eighth to set up closer David Robertson who recorded his seventh save with a perfect ninth inning.

Early Offense Powers Reds to Series Victory

It was another strong first inning for the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon. However, this time, they put up a crooked number that created some real separation from the New York Mets.

Jonathan India, who is now batting .311 on the season, got the party started with a double down the third base line. Jake Fraley then started a two-out rally with a RBI single up the middle to make it 1-0. After a Tyler Stephenson opposite-field single to put runners at the corners, Nick Senzel doubled to right field making it 2-0. Finally, Kevin Newman brought home two more with a single to left field. All four first-inning runs came with two outs.

That first-inning offense was certainly exciting, but the story of Wednesday afternoon was the Reds’ pitching staff. Derek Law served as the “opener” tossing one and one-third innings. Ben Lively then came in and recorded the win with three innings of work. Lucas Sims extended his excellent return to the bullpen with one and two-third no-hit innings. He now has thrown 10 shutout innings while allowing just two hits this season.

Finally, Kevin Herget recorded an unconventional save, the first of his career at age 32, by pitching the final three innings allowing just two hits and striking out four. The combined shutout was Cincinnati’s second of the season.

Spencer Steer set the eventual final score of 5-0 with a 427-foot home run in the fifth inning. The Reds are now 16-21 on the season while the Mets have lost 13 of their last 17 games.