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Mets 8 Reds 3 (10 innings)
Well....what a turn of events.
Two outs from winning the game and taking the series from the first place Mets, the Reds instead blew their 9th inning lead and then lost 8-3 in 10 innings Wednesday night at GABP.
Their 28-53 record is the Reds fewest wins at the midway point of the season since 1934 (26-54-1).
It was a press your luck night for David Bell as the Reds bullpen was working on 8.2 consecutive scoreless innings as Strickland had a 3-2 lead with out in the 9th before surrendering a game-tying RBI single to Starling Marte. Dauri Moreta then allowed five runs in the 10th inning, including a three-run homer to Brandon Nimmo as the Mets blew things open.
The Mets outhit the Reds 16-5 on the evening.
Ash-crafty: Rookie Graham Ashcraft didn't have his best stuff, but give him credit, he battled. 6 IN, 10 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K. He worked around 10 hits, spotty defense and threw 105 pitches in allowed just two runs over six innings. After Tuesday night, and with a doubleheader Thursday, those 18 outs he recorded were huge.
Counting outs: After being asked to record 13 outs Tuesday night, the bullpen was tasked with getting 9 on Wednesday....then another 3 in extra innings. You can only ask so much....for so long.
Sizzlin' Senzel: He hit his 2nd homer in three games and extended his hit streak to six games. He also drew a walk and later was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. He's 19 for 42 (.452) over his last 13 games.
Wait, what? The Reds drew three straight walks in the 4th inning and were not able to score a run. Senzel was picked off 2nd base with runners on first and second with no outs with a 3-2 lead. The .125 hitting Michael Papierski walked twice in the game.
Weird: Five Reds pitchers combined to issue one walk on the night and recorded just three strikeouts.
Ouch: Jonathan India was drilled on his left ankle area on a 1st inning pitch he did not attempt to move out of the way off. It cost him an exit from the game an inning later. He was replaced by Mike Moustakas. X-rays were negative and India is day-to-day.
Offense: Brandon Drury 2 H, BB, R....Farmer RBI 2B. Donovan Solano was 0 for 3 and is 1 for last 20. Albert Almora Jr was 0 for 1 and now 5 for his last 35.
Moustakas 0 for 4, 3 K, 5 for last 32.
D for Defense: For the second straight night Tommy Pham got a really nice job and covered some ground to make a nice running catch.
Swipers: Drury stole the 41st base of the season for the Reds in game No. 81. The Reds stole 36 bases in 162 games last season. Drury scored on a ground rule double by Kyle Farmer.
E: Official scorer: Pete Alonso smoked a ground ball (107 mph) right at 2B Matt Reynolds....right at him.....and it charomed off him into right field. It was ruled a hit. I'll continue to say it, MLB needs to look into official scoring around the game and start at GABP.