Cincinnati — Embarrassment lurks and Mets reacts.
On Wednesday night, a bunch of manager Buck Showalter showed resilience on the verge of returning home after losing the series to the miserable Reds. This was noticeable early in the season, but has been lacking in the last few weeks.
Dominic Smith, James McCann and Brandon Nimmo all made 10 big hits to lead the Mets to an 8-3 victory at the Great American Ball Park.
Mets maintained the 2½ game lead in the Braves in the NL East with two wins in three games in the series.
Within two outs of losing in the ninth round, Mets rebounded. Starling Marte doubled on the third base line to win Nimo. Nimo started the rally with a single out. Marte's double may have been in the foul territory when he moved over the bag, but his play cannot be reviewed. Hunter Strickland was leading 1-2 in the count before Marte drew the score 3-3.
10 times, Smith's one-out double-off Dow Rimoreta becomes an automatic runner Earn Ender Inciarte. McCann continued with a two-out single, sliding Smith across the plate with an insurance run. But the Mets weren't over. Nimo shot into the right fielder's seat for the second three-run home run in the series.
The night after Mets wasted Max Scherzer's gems and lost 1-0 on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, an aggressive explosion was welcomed.
Mets faces future challenges. The resurrected Marlins team will head to Citi Field in four games before the Mets head to Atlanta for three days starting Monday.
This evening, the Mets achieved 6¹ / ₃ scoreless innings behind David Peterson with a big bullpen performance from Adonis Medina, Colin Holderman, Adam Ottavino and Edwin Diaz.
When returning from his father's list, after the birth of his son, Peterson only lasted 3² / ₃ innings, with four hits, three earned runs and one batter. Allowed 5 walks.
Nick Senzel's two-run home run placed the Mets in the 2-1 hole. Matt Reynolds walked before Senzel made his second home run in the series. The explosion was the fourth time Peterson was allowed on the last three starts after surrendering only three times in the previous ten appearances.
Kyle Farmer's RBI doubled in the third inning, and the Reds' lead was 3-1. Brandon Drury stole a single and second to start the rally.
Senzel, Albert Almora Jr. and Michael Papierski (lowest in the Reds ranking) faced Peterson fourth. However, the left-handed player took a break when Tomas Nido, who put the puppy key on the plate, picked up Senzel from second base. Medina replaced Peterson with two outs and defeated Drury to keep Mets' deficit 3-2. Medina provided Mets with three scoreless innings and defeated four. The third straight rookie pitcher, Graham Ashcraft, who started in the Reds of the
series, surrendered the RBI single to Jeff McNeil in one go. Nimo was hit by a lead pitch and Pete Alonso became a single with two outs ahead of McNeil's single. Nimo's plunge was the 50th in his career, connecting him with Michael Conforto for the highest record in Mets history.
Mets pulled within 3-2 in his fourth RBI RBI single. Smith's lead-off double gave Mets the first extra-base hit in the game.