Reds 9 Mets 6 (Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, OH)
Mets record: 2-6
Mets streak: Lost 1
WP - Emilio Pagan (1-0)
LP - Yohan Ramirez (0-1)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Spencer Steer's three run homer highlighted a disastrous 8th inning where Yohan Ramirez gave up five runs to hand the Reds a 9-6 victory.
Need to Know
Brandon Nimmo returned to the lineup after missing Friday's game with a hamstring issue, but Fernando Alvarez was sat down due to a particularly grueling game behind the plate on Friday. Alvarez should return on Sunday.
In his return to the lineup, Nimmo went 2-for-4 with a two run double to give the Mets a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
Luis Severino had a good bounce back outing in his second start as a Met, going five innings and giving up one earmed run on three hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
Omar Narvaez went 3-for-4 with two RBI from the nine hole after the Mets got one hit from the ninth spot in the previous seven games. He also drove in two runs to tie the game in the 4th.
Yohan Ramirez pitched a strong 7th inning in his return from his two game suspension, but his 8th inning was a disaster as he gave up five runs on every type of hit imaginable, plus two walks and including the three run go ahead homer by Steer.
Turning Point
The Reds were climbing back into the game in the 6th after the Mets had curated a 5-2 lead. After Stuart Fairchild drove in a run off Jake Diekman to make it 5-3, the Reds had runners on first and third.
The Reds basically got a free run on the double steal to make it 5-4 and give them a huge boost. That a major league baseball team got duped on a double steal with a fast runner on third in this day and age is baffling to me.
Three Keys
Yohan Wears It
With Edwin Diaz, Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, and Drew Smith all having pitched in the last two days, this had the makings of a "hope and pray" game. Hope and pray that Seveino could give you 6 or 7 innings (he didn't), or that the Mets would score so many runs that you can have just about anyone close it out (they didn't.)
So Yohan Ramirez was asked to pitch two innings to get to the bottom of the ninth where heaven knows what would have happened in that inning had it existed. But we never saw it because of the 8th inning. A walk, a balk, a strikeout that Narvaez couldn't grab to cost Ramirez a wild pitch, a single to tie the game by Elly De La Cruz, a steal by Cruz, and then this:
In most other occasions, Ramirez would have been pulled well before this. But the Mets were down five pitchers on Saturday, according to Carlos Mendoza. So not only did Ramirez stick around long enough to gak up the lead, he had to finish the inning to the point where the Mets had to think about warming up Monday's presumed starter, Julio Teheran. That's how bad the inning went, and that's how shorthanded the Mets were. Thankfully, Ramirez finished the inning before his arm fell off.
Sevy Ain't Heavy
Although Luis Severino wasn't able to go six innings (he threw 99 ptiches), this was a vast improvement from his first start of the season. He ran into issues in the 2nd inning. His defense didn't help him as Tyrone Taylor lost a fly ball in the sun for a double, and Jeff McNeil's error brought in the first run of the game for Cincy. Severino didn't help things by walking the the ninth place hitter to load the bases before walking Jonathan India to force in a run to make it 2-0. but instead of letting it snowball, Severino got himself out of the inning by striking out Will Benson.
He followed that up with a strong third inning.
Long term, this ws an encouraging start for Severino.
Small Consolation
The Mets despertely need the top of their lineup to get going. As long as Francisco Lindor is hitting a bingo number (.032), 2024 is going to be a long road for the Mets. But at least Brandon Nimmo had two hits to raise his average to .120 ...
Brett Baty also had two hits to raise his average to .296, and Starling Marte's two hits brought him to .233. It's nice, but the Mets need a lot more from their lineup if they're going to crawl out of this early hole.
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