After last night’s comeback victory, the Mets were looking to create some momentum and win the rubber match against the Reds. All the signs pointed to that happening—Marcus Stroman was on the mound, the Reds’ starting pitcher was Vladimir Gutiérrez, who they tagged for six runs less than two weeks ago, and they had the electric Javy Báez in the line-up again. But just because it looks good on paper doesn’t mean that it’s going to work out that way, especially for the Mets.
In the top of the first, Stroman got through the top of the Reds inning without any issue.