Mets crush seven home runs for savage 11-innings win over Reds

CINCINNATI – Just another crazy night at the Mets stadium, with beating homers, an erased deficit and a game decided in the last set.

The Mets took a punch in one of those games over the weekend, but have dealt back-to-back uppercuts to mitigate damage since.

Kevin Pillar and Michael Conforto delivered the knockout with homers in the 11th inning on Monday night, which helped glean the Mets’ second straight win, 15-11 over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Mets have completed seven home runs, a season high.

After Jeff McNeil’s RBI single gave the Mets an 11-10 lead in the 11th inning, Pillar crushed a three-run homerun against Ryan Hendrix and Conforto followed with his second explosion of the game.

Anthony Banda, who was selected in the Syracuse Triple-A ahead of the game to provide the Mets with a new box arm, secured the win with four strikeouts in the 10th and 11th innings. Trevor May recorded the last two outs for the save. The Reds tied 10-10 in the 10th against Banda on Tyler Naquin’s RBI single.

Edwin Diaz suffered a third straight save – a career first – allowing Jesse Winker an RBI brace with two strikeouts in the ninth that tied him 9-9. Diaz propelled inning main hitter Kyle Farmer on four pitches, setting up his latest collapse. Diaz challenged Winker with an open first base and two outs and watched pinch runner Aristes Aquino come home from second with a tie.

On Saturday in Pittsburgh, the right-hander broke through the first hitter he faced and loaded the bases with two strikeouts before handing a grand slam to Jacob Stallings.

James McCann’s second big hit in as many batting appearances, an RBI single in the 10th inning, gave the Mets a 10-9 lead.

That victory came from bench coach Dave Jauss at the head of the team, as manager Luis Rojas began serving a two-game suspension for “excessive discussion” with the referees in the comeback victory of Sunday against the Pirates. Jauss made the 8 ² / ₃ finals after Rojas was sent off on Sunday.

McCann blew up his team’s fifth homerun of the night, a two-point shot in the eighth against Josh Osich that gave the Mets a 9-8 lead.

Half an inning earlier, Seth Lugo was called up with the green light on base and faltered, allowing an RBI brace for Winker who gave the Reds an 8-7 lead. Lugo, who allowed five runs in the eighth inning Saturday in Pittsburgh, helped two of the three hitters he faced reach base after the singles with a Farmer out against Miguel Castro.

Jerad Eickhoff, victim of a porous defense, allowed seven runs, five of which were unearned, on six hits, one walk and two hits to the batter in 3 ² / ₃ of innings. The veteran right-hander has managed to keep the ball in the park after giving up six homers in his previous two appearances combined.

Luis Guillorme’s first mistake of the night, on Tyler Stephenson’s field, brought the Reds back to 3-1 after Jonathan India’s brace and Winker’s single that followed. Joey Votto was hit by a pitch and Naquin called with a two-run brace that tied the game. Shogo Akiyama’s sacrifice fly put the Mets in a 4-3 hole to end the first inning.

It got particularly ugly for the Mets in the second, when they made three mistakes – two against a game from Guillorme – that put the Reds up to a 7-3 lead.

After Eickhoff broke through India early in the inning, Winker hit a Grounder the second McNeil caught, but threw low to Guillorme covering the base. The mistake was blamed on McNeil, on a game Guillorme probably should have finished. Stephenson followed up with a Grounder which Guillorme, in his haste to gain strength in the third, groped his way. Guillorme made matters worse by passing the ball past JD Davis for a second error on play, allowing India to score. Joey Voto and Naquin followed with back-to-back RBI singles.

Conforto threw a two-run homerun in the fourth quarter that brought the Mets down to 7-5. Alonso later in the round delivered an RBI single. Eickhoff, who scored for a single in the inning, was held third – a questionable decision with two strikeouts – and never scored.

Dominic Smith’s explosion at the start of the fifth was the Mets’ fourth of the night and tied him 7-7. The Homer was Smith’s 10th of the season, joining him with Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor as double-digit Mets players.

The Mets pounced on Vladimir Gutierrez for three quick runs. After Brandon Nimmo scored in the game’s opener, Alonso knocked on the left-field seats. McNeil followed with a home run.