Good teams are supposed to take care of inferior opponents. The Mets not only did that, but they also pummeled the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday afternoon, 10-2, to complete a three-game sweep at Citi Field over the NL Central minnows while outscoring them 21-6.
In 18 series against teams with sub-.500 records, they are 16-1-1.
“Winning teams, no matter who the opponent is, we go out and play the same way every single time,” starting pitcher Taijuan Walker, who allowed just two runs in six innings on five hits with five strikeouts in the win, said. “We could easily get distracted coming off a big five-game series against the Braves, we could get distracted playing the Reds. They’re a big-league team. Their record isn’t very good this year but we still have to go out there and handle business.
“That’s what we do.”
The Mets (73-39) have won 15 of their last 17 games along with 19 of their last 24 — a red-hot stretch that temporarily expanded their lead atop the NL East to eight games over the Atlanta Braves.
Daniel Vogelbach — who was serenaded by Kelis’ 2003 smash hit “Milkshake” as his walk-up music on Women’s Day at the ballpark, highlighting the contributions of women in sports — brought everyone to the yard with three RBI on Wednesday. Francisco Lindor was everyone’s boo (he walked up to “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJs) when he got on base four times, went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI, and three runs scored.
The Mets were on the front foot immediately against TJ Zeuch, sparking a relentless offensive attack that drove the Reds starter from the game in just four innings.
After a Brandon Nimmo hit by pitch and a Lindor walk, Pete Alonso collected his 96th RBI of the season with an RBI single up the middle.
Two batters later, the Mets doubled their lead when Jeff McNeil’s sacrifice fly drove home Lindor. It was the 13th-straight game in which the star shortstop scored a run, tying a franchise record with David Wright set in 2008.
New York hung three more on Zeuch — all with two outs — in the third inning and Lindor was at the center of it again, driving in a pair with a one-out single that scored Luis Guillorme and James McCann.
The two runs upped Lindor’s 2022 total to 81, tying the Mets’ franchise record for most RBI in a season by a shortstop with Jose Reyes in 2006.
“To be continued,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “I know he’d trade everything to be the last team standing. When you put it in that context of all the great shortstops who have played here, it makes you realize how hard it is. I have to soak that in. That’s pretty cool.”
Daniel Vogelbach drove him home with a single for his eigth RBI in his last seven games, increasing the Mets’ lead to 5-0.
Tyler Naquin kept the pedal down against his former team to lead off the third when he launched a no-doubter just over the corner of the second deck in right field for his third home run as a Met in just 10 games with the team after being dealt from Cincinnati at the trade deadline.
Walker, who had efficiently gotten through three innings on 30 pitches, faltered in the fourth, opening the door just a bit for the Reds.
Joey Votto doubled home Kyle Farmer to put the Reds on the board before he ultimately came home on a Jake Fraley sacrifice fly.
The Reds loaded the bases in the top of the fifth after Votto looked to have leaned into Walker’s offering with two outs, sparking debate from the pitcher and Buck Showalter. But Walker got out of the jam when he coaxed an inning-ending groundout from Donovan Solano.
New York got one run right back in the bottom of the fifth when Luis Guillorme’s two-out grounder in the hole forced a bad throw from shortstop Jose Barrero which couldn’t be scooped out by Votto. It allowed Naquin, who doubled earlier in the inning, to score from second.
The rout was on in the sixth as the Mets plated three more in the frame. Vogelbach poked a double down the right-field line to score a pair before McNeil doubled down the left-field line to score New York’s newest folk hero. In 15 games with the Mets since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates, he has 10 RBI.
“It’s respect for opponents and what it takes to win. It’s hard,” Showalter said. “I’m real proud of the way our guys focused and finished what they had going on. It’s hard.”
