Jake Fraley’s 3-for-4 performance led the Cincinnati Reds to a come-from-behind 5-2 victory over the New York Mets before 42,605 at Citi Field in Queens, New York.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (52-47) | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| New York Mets (55-44) |
2 | 7 | 1 |
| W: Martinez (8-9) L: Holmes (8-5) Sv: Pagan (21) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
When you read the following, do so with the rhythm of that famous movie theater song, “Let’s all go to the lobby” in mind:
Five games over .500
Five games over .500
Five games over .500
Reds’ best, let’s cheer loud!
It took 99 games, but Cincinnati finally reached five games over the .500 mark in 2025 by winning their sixth game in the past seven. The win clinched the series against the Mets for the Reds, who will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon.
Also note: the Reds like playing on Saturdays this year. Today’s win improved their Saturday record to 11-6 — which you could say is a very important component of their overall five-over-.500 record. We checked, and the Reds really like hitting on Saturdays so far this season. The team batting slash line on 2025 Saturdays: .282 / .361 / .495 / .856. That is number one in the majors in batting average on Saturdays, and number three in team OPS.
With the win, the Reds moved within six games of second-place Milwaukee, and seven games of first-place Chicago in the National League Central Division. Both division foes have games later today. As this post goes live, Cincinnati pulled within two games of the third National League Wild Card position, behind San Diego. The Mets are one game ahead of the Padres, currently for the second Wild-Card position, so wins against the Mets have been extra beneficial this weekend.
The Offense
Cincinnati’s team box-score batting line: 8-for-34 (.235, so not up to the Saturday team standard), two walks and seven strikeouts.
Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, Cincinnati tied the score. Fraley led off with a double, followed by Noelvi Marte being hit by a pitch from Mets starter Clay Holmes. With T.J. Friedl at the plate, Mets catcher Luis Torrens threw wildly to first in an attempt to pick off Marte. It went down the right-field line, allowing Fraley to score and Marte to move to third. An out later, Matt McLain knocked an 0-2 pitch through the left side of the infield to score Marte and even the game.
With two outs in the top of the fourth, Fraley sent a single to center to score Austin Hays, who had led off the inning with a walk, and advanced to third on a Tyler Stephenson single. That made the score 3-2 in favor of the Redlegs.
Cincinnati added two runs in the top of the sixth against reliever Reed Garrett on an RBI groundout by Stephenson, followed by a run-scoring double by Fraley to increase the lead to 5-2.
Fraley was the star of the game, batting 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs batted in and a run scored. The only time Mets pitchers retired him was on a 97.6-mph lineout to Pete Alonso in the ninth. On Saturdays, Fraley’s slash line this year is .231 /.394 /.462 /.856. Spencer Steer with two hits was the other Reds’ multi-hit performer today.
The Pitching
Reds’ pitchers combined box-score line: 9 innings, 7 hits allowed, 11 strikeouts, an unpleasant 6 walks, but only 2 runs allowed. They walked the tightrope throughout the game.
Starter Nick Martinez had a shaky 25-pitch first inning, but escaped big damage. He allowed four runners on three hits and a walk, but held the Mets to one run by retiring Ronny Mauricio on a bases-loaded grounder to second for the third out. Brett Baty hit a leadoff homer on the first pitch of the second inning to make the score 2-0.
But very much like Nick Lodolo yesterday, Martinez held New York scoreless over the third through fifth innings, while his teammates were scoring five times. Martinez fell behind early, but held the opponent right where they were. His performance today made his 2025 Saturday record 2-0, covering 13 innings pitched in which he has allowed three earned runs — a 2.08 ERA.
Taylor Rogers entered in the bottom of the sixth with a 5-2 Reds lead, and walked two of the three batters he faced — both lefthanded. Manager Terry Francona then summoned righty Scott Barlow, who walked number nine hitter Torrens to load the bases with one out. Leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo struck out swinging on a low fastball, then Barlow sawed off the bat in Francisco Lindor’s hands to end the threat on a slow grounder to first. Tony Santillan followed in the seventh by striking out the side (Juan Soto, Alonso and Mark Vientos) in order, all swinging.
Graham Ashcraft held the Mets scoreless in the eighth, presenting closer Emilio Pagan with a three-run lead entering the bottom of the ninth. Torrens opened against Pagan with a single to center, and Nimmo walked to put two on with nobody out. Lindor then smoked a grounder to first which Steer made a very nice play on, getting a force of Nimmo at second. Then, after Soto blasted one to right which for a moment appeared to be a game-tying homer but curved foul, he struck out swinging on a questionable checked (or not checked)-swing for a huge second out. Alonso then followed with a deep drive to right, but Fraley caught it short of the warning track to end it. Pagan’s 21st save was his sixth on Saturdays.
One fan’s thoughts
It’s been a true pleasure watching the career development of Elly De La Cruz shift into a higher gear over the past several weeks.
In the past 30 days (23 games), De La Cruz’s rather imposing batting slash line is .348 / .408 / .528 / .936. His strikeout percentage is under 20 (19.4), and his walks-drawn percentage is nearly 10 (9.2). He’s consistently hitting the ball to all fields, and has stopped “spinning” on every swing, to quote Marty Brennaman.
Equally important, though, is his defensive play. His last fielding error was June 23. The trend of both fielding and throwing miscues — which brought his season total to 12 on June 23 — has disappeared, at least for now. (Steer at first saved Elly from a throwing error late in the game today with a very nice pick out of the dirt.)
I’ve always been excited about De La Cruz’s performance and potential, but I was very disappointed during the early weeks of this year when it appeared that he’d made very little improvement in the areas of his game that were clear weaknesses in 2024. For me, the past few weeks have produced signs that De La Cruz is, in fact, developing into one of the game’s handful of true elite superstar players.
And, it reinforces a point I have made here at Redleg Nation previously. Cincinnati has four years of contract control over De La Cruz, and now is the time to begin building a team around him. There is no way this ownership group is going to go into the Juan Soto salary sphere for De La Cruz or anyone else, so now is the time. Make trades to get more major league talent, not prospects, who can help the team win at the major league level.
Oh, and Elly on Saturdays? He likes them, as well: .302 / .389 / .603 / .992.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets
Sunday, July 20, 1:40 p.m. ET
Andrew Abbott (8-1, 2.07 ERA) vs. David Peterson (6-4, 3.06 ERA)
The post Saturday stars: Reds top Mets 5-2, hit five over .500 appeared first on Redleg Nation.