The Mets avoid the sweep in Cincinnati

The New York Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 8-4 on Thursday night. The game took place at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio. Matt Harvey started for the Mets and pitched well, the bullpen had mixed results and Frank Francisco didn’t pitch well. Ike Davis led the Mets offense. Homer Bailey didn’t pitch great for the Reds. The Reds bullpen pitched pretty well and Jay Bruce led the Reds offense.  Harvey pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with a walk and eight strikeouts. Harvey won his second game of the season, Bobby Parnell faced one batter and struck him out and Frank Francisco pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up four hits and three runs with a walk and a strikeout. Jon Rauch saved his third game of the season pitching to one batter and striking him out. Bailey lost his eighth game of the season pitching 5 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with four of them being earned. He walked three and struck out six. Simon pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out two, Ondrusek pitched an inning striking out one and Arredondo pitched an inning giving up a hit and two runs with one of them being earned. He walked one batter.
Ruben Tejada had a hit and an RBI, Mike Baxter had a hit and an RBI and David Wright had a hit and drew a walk. Davis had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Scott Hairston had a hit and drew a walk and Justin Turner drew a walk. Jason Bay had two hits and an RBI, Kelly Shoppach drew a walk and Harvey had a hit and two RBI. Harvey, Tejada and Davis each hit a double and Davis and Bay each hit a homerun. The Mets were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
Zach Cozart had a hit and an RBI, Drew Stubbs drew a walk and Brandon Phillips had a hit. Ryan Ludwick had a hit and an RBI, Bruce had two hits and an RBI and Todd Frazier drew a walk. Scott Rolen had a hit, Devin Mesoraco had a hit and Miguel Cairo had a hit and an RBI. Phillips hit a double, Bruce hit two and Cozart also hit a double. Ludwick hit a homerun. The Reds were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Phillips, Rolen and Cozart each committed an error.
In the fourth inning Davis hit a solo homerun and Harvey hit a two run double to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Bay hit a solo homerun in the sixth, Tejada hit an RBI double and Baxter hit an RBI single making it a 6-0 game. In the seventh Bruce hit an RBI double to make it a 6-1 game. Davis hit an RBI double in the ninth and Turner reached on an error scoring another run to make it 8-1. In the bottom of the ninth the Reds made it somewhat interesting. They scored three runs to make it an 8-4 game. Ludwick hit a solo homerun, Cairo hit an RBI single and Cozart hit an RBI double.
The Mets record improved to 56-62 and the Reds record dropped to 71-47. The Mets lost two out of three games in the series. The Mets will play Friday night at the Washington Nationals as they begin a three game weekend series.