The Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind the offensive exploits of Francisco Lindor and Sean Manaea and four relievers made it stand up, as the Mets notched a 3-1 win over the Reds Sunday afternoon to earn their first series win of the season.
Lindor hit a one-out double past the third baseman in the first inning and then came in to score on an infield hit by Francisco Alvarez, combined with an error by the Reds’ second baseman. The Mets loaded the bases in both the second and third innings but were only able to plate one run, which came when Brandon Nimmo was hit by a pitch. Lindor provided the team’s final run with a solo homer to left in the fourth inning.
Manaea fanned six in five innings to pick up the win, although he had the same pitch-count issues that Luis Severino had on Saturday that caused the early exit. Manaea was pulled after 92 pitches. It felt like he could have gone another inning but managers are reluctant to push their starters early in the season. Hopefully a month from now we’ll see more aggressive use of starters.
Unlike on Saturday, the bullpen came thru in a big way in this came, giving four scoreless innings without a hit. The Reds advanced a runner to third on a walk and two steals in the sixth inning and put two runners aboard in the seventh but were unable to score in either inning. Adam Ottavino put down the side in order in the eighth and Edwin Diaz had a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for his second save of the year.
Next up for the Mets is a trip to Atlanta to face the offensive juggernaut of the Braves. In their Sunday lineup against the D’Backs, the Braves had seven players with a SLG of at least .500, with three with .700 or better marks, including Jarred Kelenic, their eighth-place hitter. The Mets’ pitching has been very good thru nine games. We’ll see if they can hold up in this four-game series against a very potent lineup.
A half-week of runs out to good use, and a series win. Onward to Atlanta. The Mets are poised to rocket to 7-6 and first place by Friday. Who needs JD Martinez?
Ok, collect series wins. I would love to see a Butto or another player that can go two innings easily because this is the same MO as Friday only to be handcuffed on Saturday. Metsense was right in the chatter: if your starters are only going five innings, pick you best four short relievers and have four long relievers to bridge the starters. This letting a reliever pitch one inning and using your best four kills the next day’s game.
Happy for the series win, Manaea throwing a good five, the relief corp doing their part, a drama-less closing by Diaz and an HR from Lindor. That four starters are still hitting less than I weigh is absurd and can’t last. Even if Teheran catches lightning in a bottle, Morton seems to usually play us tough. That we are hitting .193 as a team versus the Braves .300 could be a problem and is anyone surprised that Kelenic is batting nearly .600 in his eight games so far? That won’t last either but still glad we have Diaz from that controversial trade.