The New York Mets could not protect a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning as the come-from-behind Reds did it again — a five-run eighth inning that produced a 9-6 victory.
The first six Reds hitters reached base, highlighted by Mr. Clutch himself, a three-run home run by Spencer Steer that broke a 5-5 tie.
It was Steer’s third home run during the Reds 5-3 start to the season. He also singled and scored two runs, lifting his batting average to .448 with a 1.426 OPS.
Oh, and he also stole home.
“It’s trusting in myself, having confidence that I can perform up here at a high level,” Steer said after the game on Bally Sports Ohio. “I’m finding some holes, for sure, but I’m happy about it.”
Steer drove his back-breaker into the front row of the left field seats against. relief pitcher Yohan Ramirez.
“He has a lot of movement on his heater (fastball) and a lot of sink,” said Steer. “I was trying to get something up, something to the outfield, because a sacrifice fly works in that situation, too.”
And he got it up. . .up, up, up and away.
The Mets began Saturday afternoon’s game with a .167 team batting average and starting pitcher Luis Severino gave up 11 hits to the Milwaukee Brewers in his previous start.
But the Mets piled up four two-out runs in the fourth inning and Severino gave up one earned run in five innings.
But these are the stumbling, fumbling Mets and the five runs and Severino’s excellent outing were blown out the window by the Reds.
The Reds jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second with the aid of the sun, an error and a control lapse by Severino.
Jeimer Candelario led the inning with a line drive to left field, normally an out. But left fielder Tyrone Taylor lost in the sun and fell and Candelario ended up on second with a double.
With one out, second baseman Jeff O’Neil booted Elly De La Cruz’s grounder. Steer singled him to third. Severino then walked Tyler Stephenson to fill the bases and walked Jonathan India to force in a run.
Reds starter Nick Martinez gave up a one-out single in the second to Starling Marte. He stole second and took third on Martinez’s wild pickoff throw.
But Martinez escaped. He struck out Taylor and Jeff McNeil lined to right.
The Mets put two on with one out in the third on back-to-back singles by Omar Navarez and Brandon Nimmo, hitting .036.
But Martinez escaped. He coaxed fly balls from two dangerous hitters, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.
But Martinez did not escape in the fourth. Bret Baty singled and Marte walked. He struck out Taylor and hit McNeil, filling the bases. He struck out Harrison Bader, one out away from escaping unscathed.
Navarez singled to right for two runs and Nimmo doubled to right for two more and New York led, 4-2.
The Mets extended their advantage to 5-2 in the fifth with a run, even though Martinez retired the first two.
But Martinez did not escape. Marte singled and once again stole second, putting him in position to score on Taylor’s double up the left-center gap.
Jake Diekman, pitching for his ninth MLB team, replaced Severino in the sixth and he retired the first two Reds.
But Diekman did not escape. He walked De La Cruz and hit Steer with a pitch. Pinch-hitter Stuart Fairchild singled home De La Cruz with Steer taking third.
Fairchild broke for second and for some foolish reason catcher Navarez threw through to second and Steer stole home, cutting New York’s lead to 5-4.
Ramirez didn’t escape in the eighth and there was no place for him to hide as Mets manager Carlos Mendoza left him in to take a thorough beating.
It began with a walk to Candelario. Ramirez struck out Jake Fraley, but he reached first when Navarez missed the wild pitch. That put runners on second and first with no outs. Ramirez fell apart into a half-dozen pieces.
De La Cruz rolled an ‘excuse me’ ground ball single to left to tie it, 5-5. That extended his hitting streak to 13 games, longest in the majors dating back to last season. And he has just one hit in each of the last 12 games.
That’s when Steer unloaded on Ramirez’s high fastball. Fairchild bunted and Ramirez couldn’t make a play on it. Stephenson singled to right, India walked to fill the bases and Christian Encarnacion-Strand lofted a sacrifice fly for the ninth run.
But what’s a Reds close game without some excitement out of closer Alexis Diaz. He walked Nimmo to open the ninth and gave up a two-out run-scoring double to Baty. Marte grounded to short to end it.
“We swing the bats to the very end,” said Steer. “Down the stretch we did a good job of putting pressure on the defense. When you put balls in play, good things happen. Our at bats at the end of the game were awesome.”
Especially his.
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