Mets offense broke out early in Cincinnati but failed to win series

The New York Mets offense showed signs of life early in Cincinnati, but the momentum could not be upheld as the Mets lose the series to the Reds.

Coming into their series against the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Mets lost six consecutive games at home. However, there was a glimmer of offensive hope which came out of game one. The remainder of the series, not so much.

The Mets should have beaten up on the Reds, who held an 8-26 record coming into the series, but unfortunately, that is not what happened.

A struggling Michael Conforto lead off game one of the series with a home run off of the second pitch of the game. Conforto and Mets fans alike could exhale a bit with this sign of life.

The key to a successful offense is getting Conforto’s bat started, and that seemed to happen in game one.

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Conforto was not the only Met to homer in game one, Jay Bruce had one as well.

The story of the game, though, was Adrian Gonzalez and his two-home run night.

The Mets would win game one 7-6 and collect a total of 13 hits. A much-needed win for a struggling offense, but that would be all the winning the Mets would do in Cincinnati.

The remaining games of the series would consist of a quiet offense, bad pitching, bad defense, and bad managing.

Before we get into that, it is important to mention that before game three, Matt Harvey was traded to the Reds in exchange for Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco. Mesoraco is not the best catcher, but he is a huge upgrade to the Mets current catching situation.

At the same time, it was announced that Todd Frazier would be placed on the 10-day disabled list, which is a huge blow to the Mets offensively.

Getting back to the woes of the Mets, Asdrubal Cabrera had a two-out double in the first inning of game three, but it would end up being invalid, as there seemed to be a problem with what the correct batting order was.

Apparently, Mickey Callaway turned in a batting order to the umpiring crew that had Asdrubal Cabrera batting before Wilmer Flores, but every other batting order released had it the opposite way. So, Flores batted before Cabrera, which ended up being incorrect and the Reds caught it. Bruce was at the plate when the call was made, taking an at-bat away from him, and Cabrera was stranded at second.

Callaway took full responsibility for the batting order confusion and admits that it probably cost the Mets the game, as reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com:

The Mets have lost six of their last seven series, so it may be approaching panic time. A trip to Cincinnati seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for this team. The Reds are arguably the worst team in the league and have the highest staff ERA with 5.17.

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Is it time to panic? I’d say that if the Mets cannot pick up a series win in Philadelphia, yes it is.