September 25th 2015 -- Mets 12, Reds 5

Friday night in Cincinnati Lucas Duda hit a pair of 3 run homers and Noah Syndergaard was dominant, the Mets drub the Reds 12-5. The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2^nd when Michael Conforto doubled and then was singled home by Syndergaard. For Thor his 4^th RBI and 8^th hit on the year.  In the 3^rd Daniel Murphy doubled, Yoenis Cespedes singled and  Lucas Duda remained hot clubbing a 3 run homer, his 23^rd on the year to make it 4-0 Mets.  In the 7^th the Mets expanded the lead when Ruben Tejada reached on an error by Todd Frazier.  Thor sacrificed Tejada to second and he scored on a RBI double by Curtis Granderson. David Wright reached on an infield single and Murph followed with an RBI single making it 6-0. Duda then followed with his 2^nd 3 run homer of the night to make it 9-0. Duda now has 24 homers on the year.  In the 8^th Conforto singled, Syndergaard got his 2^nd hit on the day and Granderson smoked a long 3 run homer of his own, his 24^th on the year and it was 12-0. The Reds got their only runs off Syndergaard in the bottom of the 8^th on a solo homer by Brennan Boesch his 2^nd homer on the year. When Thor left it was 12-1 with a runner on first, Eric O’Flaherty and Bobby Parnell allowed 6 straight two out hits and 4 runs to score in the form of an RBI single by Joey Votto and a 2 run single by Ivan DeJesus and it was 12-4. In the 9th Adam Duvall greeted Tim Stauffer with a solo homer to make it 12-5. For Duvall, his 4th homer on the year. Syndergaard was a force on the mound, going 7 2/3 innings allowing just 5 hits and 2 run (earned) while striking out 11. It was Thor’s 4 double digit strikeout game of the season and at one point he retired 16 straight Reds. He gets the win improving to 9-7. Anthony DeSclafani takes the loss falling to 9-12.  Duda and the two long balls and 6 RBI, Granderson had the double, homer and 4 RBI. With the win the Mets improve to 87-67 on the season and 39-37 on the road.  The Mets have now won 22 of their last 27 on the road. The Phillies beat up on the Nationals Friday night so now the Mets magic number falls to 1 as the Met lead in the NL east is now 8 ½ games.  Saturday afternoon the Mets can clinch the NL east with a win. Matt Harvey (12-7 2.80) goes for the Mets, John Lamb (1-3 4.60) goes for Cincinnati.