Mets Morning News: Mets complete sweep of Reds, win sixth-straight game, Cespedes due back on Friday

Meet the Mets

Matt Harvey looked a lot more like Matt Harvey than he had in his first few starts of the season, and the Mets beat the Reds last night at Citi Field to complete another sweep. Among the highlights at the plate: Neil Walker hit another home run, and Michael Conforto turned a rough night around with a big two-run double in the sixth inning. With that, the Mets are 13-7 and trail the Nationals in the division by just one game.

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David Wright remained in the Mets' lineup last night, and he had a couple of things working in his favor in that regard: his off day on Sunday and his game-winning single on Tuesday.

Matt Harvey's start against the Reds kept him moving in the right direction. He looked a lot more like his old self in the start than he had in his previous regular season starts this year.

Red starting pitcher Jon Moscot, who throws with his right arm, was battling left shoulder soreness as he pitched against the Mets last night.

Neil Walker, who hit yet another home run in the Mets' win last night, is on the cusp of the most powerful Mets start ever.

On Tuesday night, Yoenis Cespedes hit a pinch-hit, game-tying, three-run home run against the Reds, and when he spoke to reporters before the team's win last night, he said the home run was one of the biggest moments of his career.

Around the National League East

The Times profiles Nationals manager Dusty Baker. His Nationals lost to the Phillies last night, which makes Federal Baseball unhappy and The Good Phight happy.

The Marlins shut out the Dodgers in a win last night.

Last—and probably last for the rest of the season—but not least, the Braves got a home run out of the slumping Freddie Freeman, butt they still lost to the Red Sox. The Braves are now 4-17 on the year.

Around Major League Baseball

Yankees manager Joe Girardi thinks defensive shifts should be illegal. Jay Jaffe points out that he might think that because the team has fared so poorly with the shift on both sides of the ball.

Speaking of the Yankees, they got a bit of a spark with Alex Rodriguez's return, but they still lost to the Texas Rangers last night.

The Houston Astros are a mess, but they need to remain patient, as Grant Brisbee points out. They are probably a lot better than their current record, which is terrible.

Cubs ace Jake Arrieta took to Twitter to defend himself against baseless speculation about his path from mediocre pitcher to one of the very best in the game.

Yesterday at Amazin' Avenue

Noah Syndergaard's slider command has been outstanding, and it's been important to the success of the pitch.

Left fielder Michael Conforto deserves a shot a regular playing time against left-handed pitching.

This date in Mets history

The Mets played their first game at Shea Stadium on this date in 1964.