Final Score: Mets 5, Reds 0—Mets keep rolling

The sleep-deprived Mets defeated the Reds this Labor Day by a final score of 5-0. With many regulars getting the day off, a patchwork lineup faced off against Reds starter Robert Stephenson.

The newly-recalled and well-traveled Matt Reynolds got to Stephenson first with an opposite field home run in the third, and Kelly Johnson followed two innings later with his own solo shot to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

The Mets’ offense really woke up once Stephenson was out of the game after six innings. In the seventh, they scored three runs against the Reds’ bullpen with Matt Reynolds, pinch-hitter Asdrubal Cabrera, and Alejandro De Aza picking up RBIs that inning.

The Mets possibly fed off Bartolo Colon that inning, who was both lucky and good a half-inning earlier. After a leadoff triple, Hernan Iribarren did not tag on a fly ball to Jay Bruce, and Colon went to work from there facing the top of the Reds lineup. He coaxed two foul outs to first in between a walk to Joey Votto.

That was the second time Colon was able to work around the Reds having a runner at third with less than two outs. The biggest threat was in the third when the Reds had runners on second and third an nobody out, but after a strikeout, a line out to third, and and fly out Bartolo was through the inning unscathed.

The biggest issue for the day was Wilmer Flores having a little too much pep in his step as he was thrown out twice trying to take an extra base on his hits, but the Mets still walked away with a win with a lineup missing key pieces and a 43 year-old on the mound.

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