Reds “Don’t Mind the Maggots” in a Series Win Over the Mets
by William Meiners
The heat arrived with the unofficial start of summer on Memorial Day in our central Michigan neck of the woods. Without much spring training for the high temps, it’s swimming pool days, lawn-mown evenings, and back porch grilling from here on out through late August. The fool in me wishes for a long hot summer, though I know it will pass faster than our early evening bats after mosquitoes.
The Reds late-afterno
on start against the Mets began a three-game series in the sleepless city that couldn’t be further (culturally speaking) from our provincial college town. Three decades ago, I could make my way around Chicago neighborhoods. But flying into New York a few times, like parachuting into an island of buildings, made that city overwhelming to me.
Domesticated now, I listened to the game mowing my backyard in Mount Pleasant. A happy place for me these days as all my youthful tail chasing left me in a dizzying mess.
The Reds scored two in the second, J.J. Bleday added a solo shot in the third, and four in the fourth we’re all the visitors needed for a 7-2 victory. Tuesday seemingly repeated itself, albeit in different scoring fashions, as the Reds won again 7-2.
The finale should have been a sweet sweep for Cincy. And the scuffling Mets, featuring a futures lineup given a rash of injuries on a highly paid roster, lucked out. Andrew Abbott gave up home runs in the first and second innings but pitched well enough to win. Reds had baserunners all night, leaving a total of 17 men stranded. Oh, untimely deaths. In fact, Sal Stewart’s swinging bunt, with two outs and the bases loaded, brought the Reds to within one (3-2) in the sixth inning. Otherwise it was strikeouts, pop-ups, and non-stop missed opportunities.
Lance McAlister, from WLW, recaps the stats as well as anybody. Without signing up for it, Lance, a high school classmate 42 years ago, appears in my Facebook feed with a post-game take. He had a different last name in the 1980s, and we had a math class and played on a baseball team together. Perhaps a “fall ball” squad, kind of an extension of the Babe Ruth League days. I think he led off and I batted second. Or maybe vice versa. I was in my speed-bunting days, earning most of my hits dropping one down the third baseline. Lance also may have been in Chicago along with me in the 1990s as he began his career and I extended my schooling.
Back in the Big Apple, Mets closer Devin Williams stirred excitement in the ninth, walking two, fanning one, walking another (to load the bags), then striking out Dane Myers and Blake Dunn to end it. Not a single ball put in play among a shitload of pitches. Even with a series win, I suspect it’s a loss that could leave a manager sleepless. Regardless of the city, town, or madhouse where he might lay that weary head.
William Meiners is the editor of Sport Literate. Among his summer 2026 plans are the documentation of 33 Reds’ series. That should be about 600 to 700 words every few days. If you don’t expect too much breakdown or analysis, outside of his own troubled head, you may not be disappointed. From losing streaks through high-water marks, he’ll follow the club, sometimes literally, from the reluctant spring of early May through the dog days of August. Then he’s off to something else.