Greene With Envy

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Brandon Sproat the GOAT’s MLB debut was overshadowed by Reds hurler Hunter Greene’s dominant performance as the Reds took the series from the Mets, winning 3-2 yesterday.

Sproat, like Jonah Tong, allowed just three hits and lasted six innings. And like Tong, he was the losing pitcher. Sproat even had an under-the-radar no-hitter going for a while there. Sproat walked TJ Friedl to start his MLB career on four pitches. Noelvi Marte then hit a decently-hit ground ball that third baseman Brett Baty made a range-y play on to start a 5-4-3 double play. Fortified, Sproat caught Elly De La Cruz looking at a curveball for strike three. Three line drive outs made up to the bottom of the second. In the third, Tyler Stephenson drew a leadoff walk. Sproat proceeded to strike out the next three batters, two looking. But in the bottom of the fourth, Sproat once again walked the leadoff man, and this time around it came back to bite him. Marte stole second, advanced to third on a ground out, then scored on a sacrifice fly. Sproat officially gave up a run in his major league career before he gave up his first hit.

That came in the sixth. After Friedl flew out to center, Marte got jammed and dunked an opposite field single to end the no-no. After Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez talked about his struggles, Elly De La Cruz smacked a double into the right center gap, scoring Marte. An Austin Hays single that went under Baty’s glove scored De La Cruz to make it 3-1 Reds. Sproat recovered to strike out Gavin Lux and Sal Stewart to finish the frame and his afternoon. The youth threw 88 pitches, 58 for strikes. He only had six swings and misses, but caught a fair number of hitters looking. Statcast says he threw six different pitches. It was a fine performance. The problem is there was so much hype, and Nolan McLean I’m afraid has already spoiled us with his wiffle ball action. Besides, consider his pitching counterpart…

Hunter Greene allowed just one hit in seven innings, walking two and striking out 12. It was the most strikeouts by a starting pitcher against the Mets all season. It’s safe to say it was the best starting pitching performance by an opposing player against the Mets in 2025. His one blemish was a Brett Baty home run with one out in the third. Baty was the only Met not to strike out against Greene all game. 

Nick Martinez handled the bottom of the Mets order 1-2-3 in the eighth. In the top of the ninth, down two against Tony Santillan with one out, Juan Soto hit a line drive home run to right center. It went 393 feet but had a 114.5 mph exit velocity. Pete Alonso reached on a De La Cruz throwing error. He reached second on a Brandon Nimmo single to left. The Mets, 0-58 at that point in 2025 when trailing after eight innings, had a shot. Alas, Starling Marte grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. He was slow out of the box because his bat broke and he obviously got jammed which knocked him back for a second, and he’s in the twilight years of his career. 

The Mets ran into excellent pitching the last two days in Cincinnati, and their vastly improved offense had little to no answers. While the pitching prospects did an adequate job lasting six innings, giving the bullpen some much needed rest, there’s only 19 games left. The Reds are four behind the Mets now in the wild card standings, but now own the tiebreaker by virtue of going 4-2 against New York in the season series. Small victories are not enough. On to Philadelphia.

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The “crowd” in Great American Ball Park was once again pathetic for a team in a playoff push against the team they’re directly chasing: 25, 662. Brandon Sproat heard his mother cheer him on in the sixth inning. "I know that voice from anywhere,” he said after the game. Plenty of friends and family of Sproat’s attended. One exception was his 12-year-old cousin, who didn’t want to miss school tomorrow and miss his perfect attendance streak. I’m sure they won't regret that.

Sproat was the 45th different pitcher the Mets used this season. That tied a MLB record. 

Manny Gómez wrote a nice rundown of Sproat’s baseball life up to this point.

Wander Suero would have been the 45th, but he never got into a game as a Met and was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse to make room for Sproat. Reed Garrett was activated off the 15-day IL, with Kevin Herget sent down. Garrett made his triumphant return by throwing a scoreless seventh. Justin Garza was designated for assignment. 

Some Mets were given the choice of taking some Heineken bottles or “doubling it” and having a teammate be posed the same question, only now with twice the Heineken offered. Eventually, someone takes 256 bottles to his locker. Don’t drink them all at once. You’ll thank me later.

Mark DeRosa compared Brett Baty at second base to DJ LeMahieu. Nice of him.

The Phillies lost, but they’re still up seven with 19 to play for the NL East crown. Even if the Mets sweep the four-game series in Philadelphia, it’ll be tough. The Padres won, so they’re back to having a two-game advantage over the Metsies for the second wild card spot. Suddenly the Reds, Giants, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals are all bunched up, lurking behind New York. The Reds are the most dangerous because they have the tiebreaker against the Mets. The Diamondbacks would be the second biggest threat because they tied the season series against New York, so it would then go to division records, which might change to Arizona’s advantage if the Mets lose often enough where a tiebreaker is necessitated in the first place. You know what? The Mets should just play it safe and win every game the rest of the way. Yeah, that’d work.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets (70-68) fell to the Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays affiliate) by a score of 10-6. Tylor Megill (right elbow sprain and inflammation) did not have a good rehab start. He allowed five earned runs on four hits in just two innings of work. He walked two and struck out three. He was meant to be stretched out to 80+ pitches but only threw 67. SS Yonny Hernández went 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored, two RBI, and a strikeout. 

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (85-45) lost 4-3 to Akron RubberDucks (Guardians). Bing was limited to just four hits. RHP Joshua Cornielly took the loss.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (72-59) finished their regular season by scoring four runs in the ninth to defeat the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies) 5-2. CF-SS Yonatan Henriquez went 2 for 5 with two RBI and two strikeouts. RHP Jose Guevara got the win in a bullpen game. Brooklyn’s best-of-three division series against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pirates) begins on Tuesday night.

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (77-53) had their game cancelled yet again. Their regular season is also over. Their best-of-three division series against the Daytona Tortugas (Reds) also begins on Tuesday evening.

10 years ago tonight, the Mets came back down 7-1 in the seventh inning to beat the Nationals in D.C. Captain Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a pinch-hit home run to put New York ahead, and Jeurys Familia got a 5-4-3 double play with the tying and winning runs on base to finish the victory.

Tonight the Mets and Phillies begin a four-game set in Citizens Bank Ballpark. Nolan McLean (4-0, 1.37 ERA) will toe the slab for New York (NL). The struggling Aaron Nola (3-8, 6.78 ERA) will take the ball for Philly. This seems like a mismatch in favor of the Mets, but this will be the Phillies’ second time facing McLean, who might actually be human for all we know. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY and outside of New York on MLB Network.