The Cincinnati Reds looked perfectly miserable against New York Mets rookie Nolan McLean, at least in the Top of the 1st inning in the series opener at Citi Field. McLean breezed through the top of the Reds lineup by striking out the side to begin, with none of Blake Dunn, Elly De La Cruz, or JJ Bleday looking comfortable at all in the batter’s box.
Perhaps the Reds just needed to shake off some quick rust after being idle for three of the previous four days. Whatever it was, they flipped the switch shortly thereafter and eventually blasted the Mets prized rookie and the rest of their roster in a 7-2 win to begin their road trip.
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Bleday later homered off McLean, Tyler Stephenson did, too, and that was more than enough to back the best start of Nick Lodolo’s blister-delayed 2026 season. The latter fired 6.0 IP of 6 H, ER, 0 BB, 7 K ball on 98 pitches, keeping New York’s offense completely off the board until a solo homer by Marcus Semien in the Bottom of the 6th.
For that, Lodolo takes home this game’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game award, something I certainly hope he does again another two-dozen times before the season’s end.
While Dunn and Elly struggled (0 for 9, 5 K) atop the order, it was the middle-back of the lineup that carried the offense on the day. Bleday homered, Eugenio Suarez went 2 for 3 with a walk, a double, and 2 runs scored, Nate Lowe walked twice, poked a soft double down the RF line, and scored, and Spencer Steer came up large with a key hit and drove in 3 on the day. That, of course, came before Stephenson in a Reds lineup that increasingly looks potent again with Ke’Bryan Hayes on the IL and TJ Friedl on the back of milk cartons all over the tri-state area.
It was an all-around excellent win, the Reds feasting on the Mets on a day when so much of Cincinnati spends feasting on metts. And the Reds now get to hand the ball to Chase Burns tomorrow in the second game of the series. That will commence at 7:10 PM ET, with the Reds with the serious upper-hand on paper.