CINCINNATI — The Mets finally got a taste of what it’s like to have dominant performances from both sides of the ball.
Marcus Stroman held Cincinnati to one hit over eight shutout innings and the offense crushed three home runs in the Mets’ 7-0 win over the Reds in Wednesday’s series finale at the Great American Ball Park. Stroman struck out seven batters, walked just one batter and used an efficient 90 pitches to do it. He was three outs away from his first complete-game shutout since Sept. 8, 2014 before he was pulled.
Jeurys Familia shut the door on the Reds with a perfect ninth inning on three strikeouts.
Stroman’s 2.59 ERA is the best he’s had in any 20-start stretch in his career.
There was no bigger hit by a Met on Wednesday than Dominic Smith’s grand slam in the third inning. Smith’s 11th home run of the year gave the Mets an early five-run lead and they never looked back. They out-hit the Reds 9-1 in the finale on a hot and humid summer afternoon that allowed balls to sail out of the park.
Luis Guillorme somewhat redeemed his three-error day at shortstop on Monday by launching a two-run blast to right field in the fifth inning. The home run was his first of the season and second of his career, as he figures to receive more starts at short while Francisco Lindor mends his strained right oblique.
Jonathan Villar opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning.
