Santiago Espinal lined a tiebreaking two-run double with one out in the ninth inning off Phil Maton to give the visiting Cincinnati Reds a 3-1 victory Sunday afternoon over the New York Mets, whose nine-game winning streak came to an end.
Noelvi Marte blooped a tying single in the seventh off Luis Severino for the Reds (69-75), who prevented the Mets from winning 10 straight for the first time since April 12-23, 2015.
Maton (2-3) opened the ninth inning by hitting Spencer Steer on the arm. Third baseman Mark Vientos made a diving stop to prevent Ty France from hitting a double but could not get the out, resulting in an infield hit.
Following a groundout by Jake Fraley that moved runners to second and third, Espinal lined a 1-2 curveball past Vientos to left field.
Cincinnati rookie Julian Aguiar allowed two hits in 4 2/3 innings and Tony Santillan allowed a single to Starling Marte in the sixth to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. After reliever Emilio Pagan got the final out of the sixth, Justin Wilson and Buck Farmer (3-0) pitched a scoreless inning apiece.
Alexis Diaz struck out two in the ninth to easily convert his 26th save in 30 opportunities.
Harrison Bader collected two hits as the Mets (78-65) finished with four. Francisco Lindor went 0-for-4 and saw his 35-game on-base streak stopped.
Severino started with four hitless innings and allowed a run on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. Severino struck out eight and walked two before Reed Garrett struck out Will Benson to end the seventh.
The Mets took the lead in the sixth when Pete Alonso walked, advanced to second on Jose Iglesias’ infield single and took a secondary lead that allowed him to score on Starling Marte’s single to center.
Severino opened the seventh by allowing an infield single to France, who was forced at second. After avoiding hitting into a double play, Fraley advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Noelvi Marte flailed a sinker near the right field line.
–Field Level Media
