Mets bats go quiet as Reds kill Amazin’s trade deadline excitement
NEW YORK — A day after shouting at the top of their lungs for a thrilling walk-off victory, the Citi Field crowd had little to cheer about in the Mets’ 7-1 loss to the Reds on Sunday.
Mets bats were silent, save for a solo home run from Jeff McNeil, as the offense showed no signs of reversing its season-long theme of dispiriting performances at the plate. The club recorded just three hits in the afternoon, bunched together across two innings, but struggled to find any rhythm or consistency against a rookie pitcher they nabbed for six runs just a couple of weeks ago.
Reds right-hander Vladimir Gutiérrez held the Mets to one run across seven innings on Sunday. When the Amazin’s faced him at the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on July 19, they crushed him for nine hits, including three home runs, and forced him out of his start after four innings. At Citi Field, Mets bats allowed Gutiérrez the opportunity to lower his season ERA from 4.75 to 4.39.
It didn’t help that Marcus Stroman stumbled in the sixth inning against the Reds. The ground-ball pitcher surrendered four of Cincinnati’s seven runs scored and allowed eight hits across 5.2 innings. Stroman’s ERA increased to 2.80 on the season after his 22nd start of the year.
Five Mets pitchers combined to walk eight batters in the loss; every arm on the mound Sunday allowed at least one free pass to the Reds as they cruised to victory despite Joey Votto’s absence from the lineup.
