Brandon Sproat had the stuff to prove that he can hang in the majors. Too bad the Mets’ offense looked like a minor-league crew against Hunter Greene and the Cincinnati Reds.
New York bats were held to just two hits against the combination of Cincy’s starter for seven innings and a pair of relievers for the final two frames, spoiling Sproat’s strong MLB debut in a 3-2 loss on Sunday afternoon to drop the rubber game of its three-game set.
Trailing by two headed into the ninth inning, Juan Soto pulled one back with a solo home run, his 38th of the season, against Tony Santillan. But Starling Marte grounded into a game-ending double play, ensuring the Mets (76-67) only stay four games ahead of the San Francisco Giants for the third and final National League Wild Card spot.
While Sproat allowed three runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and four walks over six innings, Greene was nearly untouchable for seven innings, allowing just one run on a hit with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
“I thought it was really good,” Sproat said of his debut. “Didn’t have my best stuff out there, but went out there and competed for the team. We fell short today, but on to the next one.”
Greene’s loan blemish came on a third-inning solo home run by Brett Baty, his 16th of the season, then proceeded to retire 14 of the final 16 batters he faced with little issue.
Sproat was literally unhittable across his first 5.1 innings of work, only allowing a pair of walks while mystifying Reds batters. Yet he found his Mets knotted at one apiece following a fourth inning when he allowed a lead-off walk to Noelvi Marte, who then stole second, advanced to third on an Elly De La Cruz grounder, and then scored on Austin Hays’ sacrifice fly.
He gave up a pair in the sixth, beginning on an RBI double by De La Cruz, which scored Marte from first — the first hit allowed by Sproat all afternoon. Hays then singled to score De La Cruz to give the Reds a two-run advantage.
It was all the Reds needed, as the bullpen survived a scare in the ninth that saw Soto start the rally with his shot to right-center field with one out. Pete Alonso reached on a throwing error by De La Cruz, and Brandon Nimmo singled to put the tying run 180 feet from home, but Marte pulled an inside fastball to spark the game-ending twin killing.
