CINCINNATI — The thunder from the Mets’ bats, which shook Great American Ball Park a night earlier, became a barely audible rattle Saturday.
Three hits usually won’t get it done, so here were the Mets frustrated by Christian Colon’s grounder that found a hole in the eighth inning for the Reds’ go-ahead run. The Mets were cooked in a 3-2 loss that damaged their already thin NL wild-card chances.
The Mets’ elimination number from the playoff race was shaved to five as they fell 4 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the battle for the second wild card.
“I felt like we had to go 9-1 [in the final 10 games], so here’s our one,” Todd Frazier said after the Mets’ three-game winning streak was snapped. “Let’s roll from here, and when you lose you have to hope for some losses, so that is the stage we’re at right now and it’s not a good stage.”
Justin Wilson entered a 2-2 game in the eighth and allowed a walk and single before Seth Lugo recorded the second out. But Colon, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, sent a grounder through the infield to bring in the go-ahead run. The hit was Colon’s first in the big leagues since 2017.
The Mets (80-74) went the final four innings without a baserunner against Anthony DeSclafani and the Reds’ bullpen. A night earlier, the Mets hit three home runs in an 8-1 victory.The most conspicuous struggling bat might belong to Michael Conforto, who is stuck in a 1-for-25 rut that began on the last homestand. Conforto went hitless in three at-bats, with a walk and two strikeouts.
“He’s a great hitter when he is going good and we need him to start clicking [Sunday],” manager Mickey Callaway said.
Zack Wheeler kept the Mets in the game by firing seven innings in which he allowed two runs (one unearned) on seven hits, one walk and a hit batter. It was the fifth straight start in which the right-hander allowed just one earned run. Over that stretch, his ERA has dropped from 4.52 to 3.99. It’s the first time this season his ERA has fallen below 4.00.
Wheeler, who could be headed to free agency, admitted he has begun to wonder if his Mets tenure is near its conclusion.
“It goes through your head every once in a while, but my mindset and focus is right here on this team,” he said. “It’s the team I’m on right now. I love it here and I want to win.”
Brandon Nimmo was drilled by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth to drive in the run that tied the score 2-2. But the Mets missed an opportunity to claim the lead when Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso struck out in succession. Alonso had worked ahead 2-0 in the count before whiffing. Conforto’s walk and Frazier’s single had started the rally before Joey Votto committed a throwing error on Wheeler’s bunt to load the bases for Nimmo.
Wheeler drove in the Mets’ first run with a ground out after Amed Rosario doubled Frazier to third base in the third inning.
The Reds sent eight batters to the plate against Wheeler in the first inning and scored two runs. Frazier booted Eugenio Suarez’s grounder for an error to load the bases before Aristides Aquino’s infield single — a ball Frazier thought was foul, causing him to delay his throw — brought in a run. Jose Iglesias stroked a single that put the Mets in a 2-0 hole.
“You have to win the next game and keep on plugging forward,” Callaway said when asked if he felt the Mets have to win their remaining eight games. “That’s as simple as I can put it and that is the mindset we have to have.”