CINCINNATI — Francisco Lindor came into Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds as cold as ever, riding a 1-for-31 streak to open the season. Consider the streak snapped.
Lindor went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and a run scored to help the Mets defeat the Reds 3-1 and win their first series of the season. Left-hander Sean Manaea held Cincinnati (5-4) to just one earned run, and with the high-leverage relievers available to manager Carlos Mendoza again, Edwin Diaz converted his second save of the season and the series.
Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott scattered three runs over five innings. He gave up a double to Lindor in the first inning and a single to Francisco Alvarez with two outs. The single by Alvarez should have been the end of the inning but Abbott was late to cover first base and the throw from second baseman Santiago Espinal got past him, allowing Lindor to score.
The Mets (3-6) loaded the bases on Abbott in the second inning by using a leadoff walk from Starling Marte and back-to-back bunt singles by Tyrone Taylor and Jeff McNeil. Abbott hit Brandon Nimmo to score Marte and make it 2-0.
In the fourth, Abbott (0-1) left a fastball up in the zone and Lindor took it over the left-field fence.
Nothing has come easy for the Mets so far this season and it wasn’t any easier Sunday. They left eight men on base and went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, stranding the bases loaded in the third.
The Reds lineup made Sean Manaea work for outs and ran up his pitch count. Luke Maile battled him for 13 pitches to lead off the third and he put the first three runners on base in the fourth before getting an out. Manaea walked Jeimer Candelario, gave up a single to Stuart Fairchild and hit Elly De La Cruz.
Espinal’s fly ball to right field scored Candelario to make it 3-1. Maile then won a battle against Manaea, drawing a walk to load the bases once again. But Manaea got Buck Farmer to roll over on a fastball and Brett Baty made a tough play to start a 5-4-3 double play.
Manaea raised his glove to the third baseman as he walked off the field. He gave up only three hits and struck out six, walking two batters and hitting two more over five innings in his first win of the season (1-0).
Jorge Lopez, Brooks Raley and Adam Ottavino held the Reds scoreless for Diaz, who retired the side in order to put the Mets on a winning track ahead of a tough road series against the Atlanta Braves.
