The Cincinnati Reds had their chances on the night but they simply couldn’t come through in the situations they had presented themselves with as they left runner after runner on the bases. New York took advantage of that and clawed out four runs as the Mets grabbed a 4-2 win in the series finale to avoid being swept in the 3-game set.
FinalRHECincinnati Reds (29-26)282New York Mets (23-33)471W: Tong (1-0) L: Abbott (4-3) SV:Williams (8)Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
The Reds had a chance in the top of the 1st inning with two men on and one out but failed to seize the opportunity as both runners were stranded. Juan Soto didn’t have any runners on when he came to the plate in the bottom of the 1st and for Cincinnati that was a good thing because he took an Andrew Abbott curveball and hit it over the fence in right field to put the Mets up 1-0.
In the top of the 2nd the Reds once again had two men on base, this time with two outs, and they once again couldn’t come through with the hit that they needed and both runners were stranded. New York grabbed a 2-0 lead when they had another solo home run off of Abbott, this one off of the bat of Eric Wagaman.
Cincinnati got that run back in the next inning. Elly De La Cruz reached on a throwing error to begin the inning and that proved to be costly as he came around to score on a 2-out single by Nathaniel Lowe that cut the Mets lead in half.
Andrew Abbott went into cruise control from there, retiring the side in order in the 3rd and 4th innings. In the bottom of the 5th he got the first two batters out, too. But Brett Baty hit a line drive to shortstop that was tailing away from De La Cruz and when he tried to backhand it on a short hop it hit off of his glove and was ruled an error. That extended the inning and New York took advantage as the next two hitters singled and brought in Baty to score and make it 3-1.
Tyler Stephenson doubled to being the top of the 6th. Blake Dunn and Elly De La Cruz then reached with one out to load the bases. A pop up followed, leaving things up to Sal Stewart to try and get the job done. He hit a weak chopper towards third base that didn’t reach the dirt and beat it out for an infield single that brought Stephenson in to make it a 1-run ballgame. Eugenio Suarez hit a lazy fly ball to shallow center to end the top of the frame.
The Mets offense went to work in the bottom of the inning when Zach Maxwell took over for Andrew Abbott. A leadoff single from Jared Young got things started. Maxwell uncorked a wild pitch to move him up a base and probably cost himself there as catcher Luis Torrens hit a grounder right to second baseman Spencer Steer that likely would have been an inning ending double play had the runner still been at first. Instead Young took third base and the Reds picked up one out on the play. Carson Benge followed with a single to bring in the run to extend the New York lead to two runs.
After Caleb Ferguson got out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the 7th when he took over for Maxwell, he came back out of the 8th inning. In his season debut after missing the first two months with an injury he retired the side to keep the deficit at two runs and send the game to the 9th.
Devin Williams took over in the top of the 9th inning to try and close things out for the Mets. Cincinnati had not gotten a hit off of Williams, the former Brewers closer, since 2022 when the inning began. Eugenio Suarez didn’t get a hit to start the inning but he did draw a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Nathaniel Lowe then battled for eight pitches and earned himself a walk to put two on with no outs. Spencer Steer would strike out, but then P.J. Higgins drew an 8-pitch walk to load the bases. Williams came back to strike out Dane Myers, leaving the game in the hands of Blake Dunn. The Reds remained hitless against Williams as Dunn struck out to end the game as New York avoided the sweep at the hands of the Reds.
Key Moment of the Game
Coming up empty with the bases loaded in the 9th inning.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds went 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position on the night and left 17 runners on base in the game. They managed to score just two runs – and just one of those was earned – despite having nine walks and eight hits in the contest.
Spencer Steer went 1-5 to extend his on-base streak to 16 games.
Blake Dunn had three hits in the game and was the only Red to have multiple hits in the game. That extended his on-base streak to 10 games.
Andrew Abbott continued his turn-around with another quality start in May. His ERA during the month is now at 1.29 in his 28.0 innings pitched. That’s dropped his ERA on the season to 3.88.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Atlanta Braves vs Cincinnati Reds
Friday May 29th, 6:40pm ET
TBA vs Chris Paddack (0-6, 6.86 ERA)
