Reds 4, Mets 1: Jon Niese Digs A Hole, Listless Bats Can't Dig Him Out

The story of this game is Jay Bruce's two-out, three-run homer in the first off Jon Niese and the Mets' hitters inability to work counts against Cincinnati starter Homer Bailey.

The first part is straightforward: The first two Reds reached base in the top of the first, but Niese struck out Joey Votto and got Brandon Phillips to fly out to center. On the cusp of getting out of the inning, Bruce turned on a Niese offering and deposited it 418 feet to right field. Niese was mostly fine for the rest of the game, striking out seven overall and walking just one.

The Mets' offense, for its part, had a really tough time with Bailey, swinging early and often and failing to bunch enough hits together to put a dent in the run deficit. Ike Davis, who hit a couple of balls hard and extended his hitting streak to seven games, saw just six pitches in four at-bats. Josh Thole saw the same number in three at-bats. Bailey threw just 103 pitches in eight innings of work.

We knew it was over when...

The Mets went down one-two-three in the bottom of the eighth. Aroldis Chapman doesn't cough up many three-run leads.

What else?

Chapman has 59 strikeouts and eleven walks in 34 innings. Guh.

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by JoeBighead; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.