NEW YORK — There was no letdown for the Mets on Monday night. Of course there wasn’t.
Five games against defending World Series champion Atlanta? The opener of a three-game set versus the sinking Cincinnati Reds? The Mets’ hard-grinding style takes no nights off.
After taking four of five against Atlanta, the Mets did not take a breather with the Reds in town. Starting pitcher Chris Bassitt fired eight innings of one-run ball and Starling Marte hit a two-run homer in the first inning in a 5-1 victory before 28,448 at Citi Field.
The Mets have won six of their last seven and 13 of their last 15. They upped their lead in the NL East to seven games over Atlanta.
Bassitt (9-7) gave up eight hits and a walk, striking out six, and the one run he allowed was unearned because of an error by first baseman Pete Alonso. He held the Reds to 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
The Mets needed Bassitt to go deep and rest a bullpen coming off the taut series against Atlanta; he threw a season-high 114 pitches, finishing the eighth with a strikeout of Aristedes Aquino and an emphatic fist pump.
With closer Edwin Diaz unavailable after pitching three times in four days, Adam Ottavino got the ninth inning and, though he gave up a hit and a walk, didn’t allow a run.
Daniel Vogelbach, acquired in a July 22 trade with Pittsburgh, continued to contribute to the Mets’ winning ways by going 2-for-4 with a double and a key run-scoring single in the third inning. Tyler Naquin, brought in via a July 28 trade with the Reds, had a two-run triple in the eighth inning.
Even before Monday’s win, Vogelbach was remaking about some of the special qualities the Mets have that has made them so successful. He said “there is a closeness [among] the players in the clubhouse, sure. But these players have a way that they play the game: they play it hard every day.”
“You follow the leaders, right? And if you look at our superstars, not one of them feels that they’re above the game or don’t need to play hard on every play or don’t need to do the little things,” said Vogelbach, who has batted .333 with seven RBIs in 14 games with the Mets. “From the position-player side, Frankie [Lindor] and Pete (Alonso) bring the energy and play with intensity every night. You can’t tell if they’re 0-for-4 or 4-for-4 because they’re always the same, consistent.”
The Mets got out of the blocks fast with two quick runs off Reds righthander Justin Dunn, a Freeport product who was the Mets No. 1 draft pick in 2016 but was dealt to the Mariners in the 2018 trade that brought back Robinson Cano and Diaz.
Brandon Nimmo was hit by a pitch and Starling Marte followed with his 12th home run of the season for a 2-0 lead after six pitches from Dunn.
Volgelbach’s run-scoring single came with two outs in the third and made the score 3-0. Lindor drew a one-out walk and stole second base to set the table for it.
Bassitt made his way through the first three innings with much-needed economy, using just 30 pitches, but got in some traffic jams in the middle innings.
Getting off to that kind of start was going to be a factor for the Mets’ bullpen after the taxing five-game series with Atlanta.
The Reds cut the margin to 3-1 on Joey Votto's fielder’s choice in the fourth, but Bassitt stranded two runners. In the sixth, Cincinnati loaded the bases on a pair of infield singles around a walk before Bassitt got Aquino to hit a soft inning-ending line out to second base.
