Chris Bassitt shines in series opener against the Reds

The Mets continued their winning ways on Monday night, beating the Cincinnatti Reds 5-1, and wasted no time jumping out to a lead in the bottom of the first inning.

After Brandon Nimmo was hit by a pitch against Justin Dunn, a former Mets first round pick, Starling Marte unloaded on a two-run homer deep to left field giving the Mets an early 2-0 advantage. It was Marte’s 12th homer of the year, as he continues to be a spark at the top of the Mets’ lineup in the beginning of games.

On the mount this evening was Chris Bassitt, who has been pitching exceptionally well as of late. That trend continued tonight, as Bassitt pitched 8 innings of one-run (unearned) ball with 8 strikeouts. Though he was able to pitch 8 innings, it wasn’t always easy for Bassitt, as he had to work around a fair number of baserunners throughout the game. Many of these came on the nine hits he gave up, most of them infield hits. One could even say these were lucky hits for the Reds. But thanks to a couple of double plays, as well as sound pitching, Bassitt was able to escape these jams unscathed.

With his 8 innings pitched, it was Bassitt’s ninth straight start of going at least six innings for the Mets. His consistency continues to be a big piece for the Mets’ rotation which has been on a roll since the start of July.

In the third inning, the Mets scored their third run of game, in large part thanks to Francisco Lindor. After Lindor drew a walk and stole a base, he was able to come home and score on a Daniel Vogelbach single. It was the 11th straight game in which Lindor has scored a run, two shy of tying the club record held by David Wright.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lindor found himself inches away from a two-run homer. Hitting a fly ball deep to right center field, it looked like the ball was going to clear the fence and give the Mets a 5-1 lead. Instead, the terrific outfield glove of Albert Almora Jr. jumped up against the wall, robbing Lindor of his 20th homer of the year.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Mets were able to get some insurance runs, all with two outs. After Daniel Vogelbach doubled and Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch, Tyler Naquin hit a triple to deep right field, extending the Mets lead to 5-1. Adam Ottavino then came on in the ninth inning and worked around two baserunners to close out the win for the Mets.

The victory puts New York 32 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2006 season, as well as 7 games ahead of the second place Braves.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

Red Reporter

Box scores

ESPN

MLB

Win Probability Added

Fangraphs.com

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Chris Bassit, +35% WPA
Big Mets loser: Pete Alonso, -7% WPA
Mets pitchers: +36% WPA
Mets hitters: +14% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marte’s two-run homer in the first inning, +16.8%
Teh sux0rest play: Mike Moustakas’ single in the third inning, -6.2% WPA