CINCINNATI — The Mets’ 8-3 win over the Reds in 10 innings Wednesday night was plenty dramatic, sure, but it was less thrilling comeback and more relieving avoidance of a would-be series loss against perhaps the worst team in the National League.
They buried two mostly futile nights of hitting with a five-run rally in the top of the final frame, highlighted by Dominic Smith’s go-ahead RBI double and Brandon Nimmo’s three-run home run. That came after Starling Marte’s tying hit, an RBI double in the top of the ninth — when the Mets were down to their final two outs.
That boosted the Mets (51-31) to another series victory and kept red-hot Atlanta at 2 1/2 games back in the NL East. Those teams will meet for a three-game set starting Monday.
The Mets outhit Cincinnati (28-53), 16-5, but needed the late rallies because they left 10 runners on base.
Before the late dramatics, righthander Graham Ashcraft, attacking with mid- and high-90s cutters and sinkers, worked around 10 hits but allowed only two runs in six innings. The Mets went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight men on base against him. Ashcraft had one strikeout, no walks and no perfect innings.
The Reds’ third rookie starter in as many games against the Mets, Ashcraft’s 105th and final pitch was a 98-mph sinker to Brandon Nimmo, hit it into the dirt and toward first base for a groundout. Ashcraft marked the moment with a pair of double fist pumps.
Cincinnati, which is having a bad season and might trade more of its better players in the leadup to the trade deadline next month, is giving youngsters like Ashcraft, Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene some run in the rotation with an eye toward the future.
“They got some really good young pitching,” manager Buck Showalter said before the game. “That bodes well for their future.”
In his first start back from a four-day paternity leave, David Peterson labored through 3 2/3 innings. He limited the damage to three runs and four hits, but he issued a season-high five walks — matching his total from the previous month (25 innings).
Nick Senzel hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the bottom of the second. Kyle Farmer added an RBI double in the third.
After striking out 18 batters and walking none across 13 innings in his prior two outings, Peterson did not have a normal between-starts routine. He faced the Rangers on Friday, flew to Denver on Saturday, was present for the birth of his son and flew to Cincinnati on Tuesday.
Righthander Adonis Medina provided his latest in a series of impressive relief outings, three scoreless innings with one hit and one walk (and four strikeouts). His ERA is 3.00 — that high only because of one ugly outing in Colorado.
That the game was at night made manager Buck Showalter unhappy. Home teams typically choose start times, and series finales often are played earlier in the day to accommodate either or both teams’ travel. But not this time.
“I don’t know how they get away with it,” Showalter said before the game. “Of course we should be playing a day game today . . . The schedule is what it is. It’s still a great way to make a living, even if you don’t sleep.”
Showalter initially downplayed what impact a middle-of-the-night arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport would have on Mets players when they play the Marlins on Thursday. But then he acknowledged it does make a difference.
“Sleeping. A little lethargic. More susceptible to injury,” he said, noting it also negatively influences the quality of play and thus is not “good for the game.” “I can keep going, there’s about 10 of them.”
