Ben Lively, who played the underdog role to perfection, led the Reds in a "bullpen day" that left Mets' hitters baffled in a 5-0 win that allowed the Reds to win the series, breaking Mets dominance at Great American Ball Park.
The Mets were 39-23 at Great American Ball Park since it opened in 2003. The Mets were 39-16 against the Reds since 2013 and invested more in two pitchers, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, than the Reds have tied up in their entire payroll.
Lively pitched three scoreless innings for his first big league win since 2017. He hadn't pitched in the big leagues for five years.
"I'm so fired up," Lively said grinning wide. "My mom and my sister were here. I was so jacked up. I'm pretty riled up right now. It is surreal. I feel the circle is complete now."
It was a long wait and shoulder surgery, five years in the minor leagues and Korea put this win on hold demonstrating the 31-year old's perseverance.
"They told me to be ready for the second inning. I had no idea how long I'd go. I could have gone longer, hell yeah, I was fired up. I felt good. That's just me. That's how I am. It was an awesome win today," Lively said.
Jonathan India extended his hitting streak to eight games with a double just inside the third base bag. Senga settled in momentarily and got TJ Friedl to pop out and catching Spencer Steer looking at strike three. Jake Fraley dumped a bloop single to center to allow the Reds to score in the first inning for the fifth straight game. Tyler Stephenson sent Fraley to third on a ground single to right. Nick Senzel doubled to the base of the right centerfield wall to score Fraley. Henry Ramos walked to load the bases. Kevin Newman's ground single to left scored two
Ramos walk and taking third on third on Newman's single to left played a role in the inning. Fraley took third on Stephenson's hit that set up the Reds.
"We had a lot of good plays offensively to build a big cushion making it a little bit easier but the pitching was just great," David Bell said. "Ramos had a big at bat, laying off a tough 3-2 pitch, leading to Kevin Newman's hit. Four runs is quite a bit different than two. Those little things are really big things. Counting on the guys behind you its a big team effort."
The Reds have had to find ways to score without hitting home runs and they did that in this win.
"It has been our identity, the next man up mentality. The overall big team contributions," Newman said. "A pressure that we bring is taking the extra bag when we can. That's big for us. Getting in scoring position when normally you wouldn't puts us in a good positions. The home runs are going to come."
As planned Reds' starter Derek Law got to the fifth batter in the order, walking Pete Alonso. Reds' manager David Bell said before the game that Law, who has four career starts, all with Toronto in 2019, would get to a certain part of the order before Ben Lively came on.
Lively, made his Reds debut, 10 years after the Reds drafted him. He was named minor league pitcher of the year for the organization in 2014 but the Reds traded him to Philadelphia for Marlon Byrd.
The Mets went down in the second as Lively struck out Daniel Vogelbach to end the inning.
Lively pitched three innings of shut out baseball. Lucas Sims, who had not allowed a run since coming off the injured list with a back strain, shut down the Mets for 1 2/3 innings. He has 10 scoreless innings in 10 appearances.
Steer hit his fifth home run in the fifth. The blow off Senga was the only run the Mets' pitcher allowed after the first inning.
Kevin Herget, who had been starting games in Louisville, started the seventh. He allowed a one-out double to Francisco Alvarez. He struck out the Mets' team leading hitter Brandon Nimmo but Francisco Lindor singled to right. Ramos threw Alvarez out at home to end the inning. Herget pitched a clean eighth and ninth to earn his first career save in his eighth big league appearance.
Herget and Lively combined for six innings. Law and Sims took care of the top of the Mets order and the meat of it respectively.
"It was a great win for our team," Bell said. "There were a lot of really team type attitudes. It starts with Derek Law. He's been a reliever for us all year doing a nice job, willing to do whatever it takes. A lot happened after that but that attitude towards that gets us going in the right direction."
For Herget, 32, his wait to shine in the Major Leagues took 10 years to come too. He was the 39th pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2013 draft and didn't sniff the big time until last September.
"Today was one of those games there wasn't really a set plan other than who was starting," said Herget. "It was one of those things where you have to stay ready. Going in and finishing the game is just fun. I haven't pitched in a week or so and it was just fun to get back on the mound."
He stayed in the moment.
"I didn't really cross my mind to go for a save. They didn't say anything to me so I was going back out but getting a save like that is a pretty cool deal," Herget said.
Today David $lew Goliath.
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