Chris Bassitt was stifling through eight agile frames and Starling Marte hit a two-run homer in the first, leading the New York Mets(71-39) to a 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of their three game summer series at Citi Field.
With their 13th victory in 15 games, the Mets extended their NL East lead to seven games over the idle Atlanta Braves(67-36), having just taken four of five from them over the weekend in Flushing, NY.
Bassitt (9-7, 3.39 ERA) allowed an unearned run and walked one while striking out eight in his second eight-inning outing this season and fifth in 114 career starts, this being his best as a Met since coming over from Oakland this past offseason. His 114 pitches was the most by a Mets starter this year which is saying something when you have a rotation spearheaded by Jacob Degrom(Albeit he’s been on a pitch count since recently coming back from injury) and Max Scherzer.
Bassitt’s arsenal on this cool evening in front of a light-hearted crowd following the euphoria of Degrom’s first home start in over a year on Sunday featured a mid-90s (mph) fastball and a low-70s curveball. The Reds scored in the fourth on three fielder’s choice groundouts, ironically all from second baseman Jeff McNeil to shortstop Francisco Lindor.
The northpaw began a 1-6-3 double play to end the fifth and left the bases loaded in the sixth, when he got Aristides Aquino to line out.
The offensively-challenged Reds(44-64) stranded two more in the seventh before Jake Fraley was left at first in the eighth, when Bassitt won his battle against Aquino again with a three-pitch strikeout.
As for the bats, Mets struck quickly against Reds starter and former New York prospect Justin Dunn (0-1), who was pitching in the majors for the first time since June 17, 2021. Leadoff batter Brandon Nimmo was hit by Dunn’s fourth pitch on the night and Marte pounced on the tedious youngster with a homer well into the left-field seats two deliveries later.
Half of Starlings 12 homers this season have come in the first inning. He is batting .315 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs since May 1.
Daniel Vogelbach had an RBI single in the fourth and continues to turn into a fan-favorite since being acquired from Seattle at the trade deadline. In the 14 games he’s appeared in since donning his new threads, slugger has mashed to the tune of a .332 batting average with two homers, seven RBIs, has worked 10 walks and has an astonishing 1.044 OPS in they timespan.
The objective on this “ Metsville Monday” was to keep the good times rolling and contributing to the cause was ex-Reds outfielder Tyler Naquin, another trade deadline piece who added a two-run triple in the eighth putting the ballgame out of reach.
-I used AP to help me with this article.
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