The Cincinnati Reds barely needed to show up, but if they hadn’t, they would have missed “The Noah and Duda Show.”
Noah Syndergaard pitched a masterful seven and two-thirds innings, surrendering five hits, walking none and striking out 11. The only smudge on his night came when he tired in the eighth and gave up a superfluous home run to Brennan Boesch. By that time, the Mets had built a 12-0 lead, largely on the back of the other half of the act.
Lucas Duda cracked a hard, opposite field three-run homer in the third, which extended a 1-0 Mets lead to 4-0. In the seventh, he followed a flurry of singles and doubles with another three-run job, this one into the upper deck in right field. That made the lead 9-0. Not to be outdone, Curtis Granderson hit a “me too” three-run blast in the eighth.
The non-factor portion of the Mets’ bullpen, though, had trouble securing the finish. After Syndergaard’s departure, a combination of (The Nameless One), Bobby Parnell and Tim Stauffer conspired to allow the Reds three more runs. Hansel Robles came in with two outs in the ninth to finally nail this one down.
The Phillies had a laugher of their own against the Nationals, so the Mets have clinched a tie, taken the express train to Mookie-ville.
Better get those bottles on ice…
Not going to lie…I’m kind of hoping for a Nats win tomorrow so the Mets clinch on their own
Ant be a walk in the park tomorrow. Teams usually have an ego thing about having other teams celebrate on their turf, so either they will fight like crazy or not care. I’m pretty sure guys like Phillips, Votto, Bruce and Frazier will bring their “A” game.
The first word in my post above should be “Won’t”. Can’t explain why it isn’t there.
While the Mets were floundering at home, the Dodgers were not doing any better. Hence, the Mets are still 1/2 game behind for the second seed. The Dodgers will be in Colorado for two more games this weekend, then four in San Francisco, and finish hosting the Padres for three. The Mets have two against Cincinnati, then to Philadelphia for three, and finish with three at home against the Nationals.
If the Dodgers go 5-4, can the Mets go 5-3 and take it on their tie-braking head-to-head better record? Looks very possible to me!
I completely agree about the Reds stars not laying down for the Mets. After all, it was not too long ago that Cincinnati was a contender.
Also, I thought that if a team was tied for second seed they would go to the season series for an answer. In that case, the Mets would take it 4-3.
And then there is one. Let’s close it out this afternoon!
What a bummer that Uribe hurt that chest cartlidge again. I hope he can heal with in two weeks. Syndergaard is peaking at the right time and maybe Duda is ready to get red hot. TC using those three relievers was just proof positive that they don’t belong. (Which everyone on this site already stated). 1/2 game behind for the home field advantage. Let’s do it!
One of the oddest things about the Mets’ run is how few laughers there have been. It’s only the 21st win by five or more runs we’ve had this season. By contrast, Washington has 29 of those.
Regardless, it was great to see Duda go wild. We could use a nice five-week hot streak from him.