At the Labor Day post and the start of the final stretch of the pennant races, the Mets are showing they are up for contending in September. Monday’s 5-0 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park was their third straight win, and they’ve also won six of eight games and 12 of their past 16. With wins by both the Mets and Cardinals on Monday, New York entered Tuesday one game behind St. Louis for the second National League Wild Card spot.
On a day when manager Terry Collins rested a few New York regulars following overnight travel to Cincinnati, supporting players provided the punch against Reds rookie starter Robert Stephenson. Fresh callup Matt Reynolds hit a solo home run in the third inning and Kelly Johnson cleared the fences with a leadoff shot in the fifth to support a strong start by Bartolo Colon. Three more runs scored in the seventh vs. reliever Alfredo Simon.
Over his six innings, Colon gave up five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. He survived threats in the third and sixth innings, when the Reds had a runner on third base with no outs both times.
“Colon was really rolling good. He really was,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “We saw a real masterful pitcher pitch a great game. I saw him when he was a hard-throwing guy when he was throwing 100 [mph]. You can teach a lot of pitchers how to pitch by being able to manage less stuff with really good command and movement.”
Cincinnati was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position against Colon and 0-for-7 with seven left on base overall.
Stephenson gave up two earned runs and five hits with one walk over 5 1/3 innings, while striking out nine batters.
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