Francisco Alvarez gave the Mets an early lead with a two-run double and Jose Quintana turned in another strong start, leading the Mets to an 8-4 win over the Reds Sunday afternoon at Citi Field. The victory allowed the Mets to avoid a sweep in the series.
Trailing 1-0, the Mets loaded the bases in the third inning and tied the game when Tim Locastro scored on a wild pitch. The Mets went ahead for good when Alvarez ripped a two-run double to left field.
The teams traded runs in the fifth inning and the Mets broke open the game when Daniel Vogelbach, pinch-hitting for Locastro, delivered a three-run double off the wall in the seventh. Ronny Mauricio added an RBI to make it 8-2 Mets.
The lead seemed safe enough to bring in Jeff Brigham. And it was, as Brigham only gave up two runs.
Daily bullpen meltdown aside, the pitching story was Quintana, who scattered eight hits over 6.2 innings, allowing just two runs. It was the second straight game the Reds had a bunch of baserunners but not a bunch of runs to show for it.
It was a very much a throwback game to an earlier time, as the two teams combined had just eight strikeouts. The Mets had 13 hits, with four players having multi-hit games. Mark Vientos, of all people, led the way with a three-hit game. For those of you who still treasure AVG, Vientos has a .218 mark on the season, just four points behind Pete Alonso’s mark. Of course that leaves the 245-point advantage Alonso holds in OPS.
If Showalter played Vientos from earlier in the year when he came up, undoubtedly he would have similar numbers to Alonso. Please don’t diss my boy, Wilmer Flores Jr.
Brigham only gave up two runs. Still laughing about those two sentences. As one of those who still likes the average, it’s still a measure of hitting, and think about the season Alonso would be having if he was hitting .280 instead of .222. Gotta love these baby Mets and kudos to Vogelbach, but it looked like he was admiring the shot and not busting out of the box. Quintana gives us another solid starter for 2024. The impact of him missing most of the season is an under the radar story of another injured pitcher who we were counting on. Glad we avoided the sweep.
Vogelberg busting out of the box!!! That was priceless!
Regarding Alonso…..I would have taken Harmon Killebrew averages .240-.250 from him for the year, rather then his Dave Kingman average. Still on the fence regarding whether to keep him after 2024. Guess it depends how the ‘baby Mets’ progress and how much $$$ his agent wants for him.