It’s one thing for a baseball club’s playoff push unravel. It’s quite another thing for it to unravel like it did for the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 5.
The Reds’ faint playoff hopes grew fainter in a 5-4 loss to the New York Mets on Sept. 5 at Great American Ball Park, and the defeat was up there among the most demoralizing of the season.
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In the ninth inning, the Mets’ occasionally volatile closer, Edwin Diaz, gave up a single and two walks to load the bases with no outs. Noelvi Marte struck out. Then Elly De La Cruz, whose at-bat was interrupted so Diaz could change out his cleats on the infield grass, struck out looking.
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After narrowly missing out on a hit when the ball went just foul, Gavin Lux grounded out on a sharply hit ball. Lux’s contact slipped past Pete Alonso at first base but was corralled by Mets’ second baseman Luisangel Acuña, who fired to Diaz covering at first base to end the game.
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“I thought (Lux) had a real good at-bat,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “Pulled the ball that was inches foul and then had a chance on the next one.”
The stunted Reds rally was preceded by pulling to within one run of the Mets after trailing at 4-0 and 5-1, and after Cincinnati’s bullpen delivered again in four and 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
New York grew its lead over the Reds in the National League playoff race to six games. Cincinnati (70-71) dropped to below .500 for the first time since June 8 when it started the day 32-33.
Catcher Tyler Stephenson talks with starting pitcher Andrew Abbott during the Mets’ three-run first inning at at Great American Ball Park on Sept. 5. Abbott allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings on nine hits and walk while striking out five.
The loss also dropped the Reds to 3-11 in their last 14 games − a stretch that resulted in a 5 1/2 game swing in the standings.
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“Tough loss, obviously,” Matt McLain said. “Gotta win these games and we didn’t. Came up short today but we’ll be back tomorrow.”
The Reds-Mets series opener started ominously for Cincinnati. MLB All-Star and starting pitcher Andrew Abbott saw New York jump out to an early lead even as Reds center fielder T.J. Friedl managed to rob Brandon Nimmo of a three-run homer in straightaway center.
New York still plated three runs to open the game, and then went up 4-0 in the third inning. The Reds cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning, but the Mets tacked on a fifth run in the fourth for a 5-1 lead.
Francona said he spoke with Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson in-game regarding Abbott, and that Johnson said Abbott didn’t appear to be suffering from fatigue. Abbott’s 143 1/3 innings pitched in 2025 is a career high.
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“His stuff’s fine,” Francona said. “I think when he was going through a real good streak you could almost see a little bit of a swagger. Not that he’s an arrogant guy because he’s not. And I think, right now, that’s probably not quite there.
“He (Johnson) said he’s held his stuff much better this year than he did last year. That’s part of why I asked.”
Abbott was unavailable following the game.
Playing his first game back from a stint on the injured list that started in mid-August, Tyler Stephenson drove in two runs with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth. He would later score, but that was as close as Cincinnati got to tying the game.
Elly De La Cruz breaks his bat as he singles against the New York Mets in the first inning of the opening game of their three-game series at Great American Ball Park Sept. 5. De La Cruz, who finished 1-for-5, struck out in the ninth as the Reds failed to score with no outs and the bases loaded.
The Reds left the bases loaded in the sixth inning.
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In the eighth, Spencer Steer looked to have clubbed an extra-base hit into the right field corner, which might have allowed Lux to score from first base. But the ball touched down in foul ground by what appeared to be inches.
The last blow came in the ninth inning, which went awry in agonizing fashion.
“We just missed a couple big hits,” McLain said. “That’s where you win these games, these tight games against teams who are as good as you. Gotta go up there and have some big hits.”
The Reds can still pull closer to New York in the standings than they were when the series started but they’ll need to start Sept. 6 by reclaiming the game they dropped in the opener.
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To make hopes more complicated, the San Francisco Giants (72-69) have won five straight and 11 of 12 and are now between the Reds and the Mets, two games clear of the Reds and four behind the Mets.
Any hope of sweeping the Mets and pulling to within two games by series’ end was swallowed up by Acūna’s glove on the final play Sept. 5.
The Reds are scheduled to send right-hander Brady Singer (12-8, 4.08 ERA) to face Mets rookie Jonah Tong (1-0, 1.80). Tong would be making his second career major-league appearance after he went five shutout innings against the Miami Marlins on Aug. 29.
“You can’t feel sorry for yourself,” McLain said. “Gotta go out there and play the game hard tomorrow.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Reds’ playoff hopes took another hit in crushing loss to the Mets