Mets clutch up in 8th inning to escape with win over Reds

Juan Soto scored from third on Luis Torrens’ fielder’s choice grounder in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday, lifting the New York Mets to a 3-2 win over the visiting Cincinnati Reds.
Soto started the inning by coaxing a leadoff walk from Brent Suter (1-1), then reached third via Jeff McNeil’s one-out double to right-center. Tony Santillan relieved Suter and Torrens welcomed him by rapping a 3-2 pitch to second baseman Matt McLain, whose one-hop throw home was too late to nail Soto at the plate.
Edwin Diaz (5-0) got the win despite blowing a save chance, courtesy of his two-out, bases-loaded plunking of Spencer Steer that allowed McLain to score the tying run in the top of the eighth. Ryne Stanek pitched the ninth for his second save.
Steer’s hit-by-pitch no-decisioned both starters after quality outings.
Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott pitched six innings, permitting two runs off six hits and a walk while fanning five. New York’s David Peterson lasted six innings, allowing four hits and an unearned run with a walk and four strikeouts.
Peterson trailed 1-0 three batters into the game. TJ Friedl reached on an error, got to third on McLain’s single and rode home on Elly De La Cruz’s RBI single to center.
The Reds filled the bases with two outs in the second, but McLain struck out, starting a stretch where Peterson retired 12 of his last 13 batters.
The Mets equalized in the third as Tyrone Taylor led off with an infield single, was sacrificed to second by Luisangel Acuna and scored when Brandon Nimmo grounded a single to right.
Acuna gave New York a 2-1 edge in the fifth with his first extra-base hit since May 2, a double that one-hopped the left-field wall. It scored Brett Baty, who led off with a single and swiped second for the Mets’ 18th straight steal without being caught.
New York first baseman Pete Alonso didn’t start because of a right hand contusion but entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, stretching his consecutive games played streak to 354 games.