Mets easily beat Braves – How will they do vs. the Reds?

Sunday night’s second game between New York Mets and Atlanta Braves has fallen in New York’s favor. The National League East leader won 5-2 at home against its closest pursuer. 

deGrom Pitches Mets to 5-2 Victory

Yesterday Jacob deGrom was on fire as he struck the Mets into a perfect game right from the start and pitched the Mets past the Atlanta Braves 5-2.

Pete Alonso netted 2 runs and 19 strikeouts, including three straight from closer Edwin Diaz, ending a combined two-hitter. In the NL East showdown, the Mets took four of five from Atlanta and extended their division lead to 6 and a half games defending the World Series champions.

deGrom, pitching at home for the first time in over a year, retired his first 17 batters of which 12 on strikeouts before walking No. 9 hitter Ehire Adrianze with two outs in the sixth. On the 76th Dansby Swanson followed with a two-run homer, ending the match 5-2. 

Fans Had to Wait but deGrom Didn’t Disappoint

What should become a squatter starts off soporific. Mets fans had to wait a full 20 minutes longer for the match to begin as the start of the game was delayed 20 minutes by rain. However, when the face off started, deGrom didn’t disappoint his over 37,000 fans in the Citi Field Baseball Stadium.

deGrom was overwhelmed by a standing ovation of his fans when he stepped onto the mound. His first pitch was an almost 100 mph fastball that Swanson catapulted into right field for an out. The right-hander continued to bat like a pro and struck out Matt Olson on four pitches, each of them with over 100 mph fastballs. deGrom finished the match with the most strikeouts by a Mets pitcher this season so far. 

With the win, the Mets now take the lead in the series and know that the Braves are not getting any closer to their top spot in the division for a while. 

Mets to Take on Cincinnati Reds Tonight

Today at 7:10 pm ET the Mets will have the Reds over for a three-game series at Citi Field. The Mets are on fire at the moment as they’ve won 12 out of 16 games since the All-Star Break. Although the Mets are out-performing most other teams, the Reds are playing really good as well as they won three games in a row versus the Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, and the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Justin Dunn will be on the mound for the Reds and it will be his first MLB game in over a year. On the other hand, we have Chriss Bassitt on the mound for the Mets who currently holds a 8-7 record and an ERA of 3.61. In his last match against the Washington Nationals he went seven innings and gave up six hits and zero runs. Bassitt is really killing it lately and the Red bats will probably have a hard time tonight. 

The question remains whether the Mets can continue their second-half surge and appear in the playoffs again. What do you think will happen tonight?