Cincinnati Reds Clubbed on Irish Heritage Night

The month of September has been unusually cruel to the Cincinnati Reds thus far. Being mauled by the New York Mets 14-5 on Friday night, the club is still yet to win in the calendar year’s ninth month.

For the Mets, it would be their first five home run game since 2006. The five home runs, 14 runs and 18 hits would all be season-high for a team that has struggled just as mightily as the Reds with the bats.

On top of the systematic destruction, the game moved at a glacial pace. Alfredo Simon would be at the forefront of both issues, having a miserable first inning once again, and needing a whopping total of 60 pitches to get through the first two frames.

Leaving six men on through the front three innings, the Mets could have managed to make the night even worse had they truly cashed in on the Big Pasta early.

They would effectively end his night in the fourth, after manager Bryan Price called for an intentional walk to Lucas Duda to face catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Considering we are all inhabitants of the 21^st Century, we can accurately recognize that walking a middle of the order hitter to pitch to another middle of the order hitter makes absolutely no sense. Giving away a free base makes no sense as is, but especially when the next batter proceeds to hit a three-run home run, does it truly extenuate the drastic lack of awareness.

d’Arnaud’s three-run blast to put New York ahead 6-2 was the beginning of the end for Cincinnati. Never again would they even get so close.

The home run barrage continued the following inning when Wilmer Flores took J.J. Hoover deep upon his arrival back to the Major League squad, wearing green opposed to red. With the way the club performed in the one night only jerseys, there has to be a high percentage chance of them never seeing the light of day ever again.

As has been the case all season long, Todd Frazier and Devin Mesoraco came to play. Supplying the Reds lone power all evening, Frazier would have a three-hit day (albeit a miserable night on the basepaths and in the field) and both would crank solo home runs.

Outside of the third inning, the Mets would score every time they dug into the box. Curtis Granderson’s three-run blast off reliever Ryan Dennick in the top of the sixth turned the game into a complete blowout, putting New York up 10-2.

It was hard to find a New York Met who did not have a successful evening. David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud, Dilson Herrera, Curtis Granderson and Wilmer Flores all had multi-hit evenings, with Wright leading the charge with four knocks of his own.

Picking up his first win against the Redlegs since way back in 2007, Bartolo Colon and his 88 MPH fastball baffled Cincinnati hitters. With a style that continuously pounds the zone and forces hitters to swing early in fear of winding up behind in the count, Colon dominated a Reds offense for seven innings, allowing only two runs.

On Irish Heritage Night, the only positive thing to come from the entire experience was from the Irishman himself. Surely, Bryan Price would have loved to find a way for Jack Hannahan to make the start, but his .156 batting average entering the game could not justify it. As a late game double switch replacement, Hannahan would slice a two-RBI single in the ninth inning for his first two RBI of the season.

With Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos scheduled to pitch for the Redlegs over the remainder of the weekend, the Metropolitans may have used up their runs total for the weekend.

Cueto will lock up with Dillon Gee at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The bizarre start time will surely cause an interesting mix of shadows and clouds, making it all the more difficult to make contact with the already nearly unhittable Cueto.