Reds Take Another Series from Mets, but Fall Short of Sweep
by William Meiners
Baseball is for thinkers. Maybe more so than other sports. Set aside analytics and that whole can of worms. It could be the grind, for players and fans alike, dealing with the ups and downs of a six-month season.
By mid-June, not even officially summer yet, the pundits are predicting the worst for the last-place Reds. With good reason. And even though I often run blue, I share that dread.
With daylight pushing 10 p.m. in Michigan, it’s a glorious time for swimming. Although it could be sink or swim for the Redlegs. And there’s no Johnny Weissmuller in the farm system, so this 2026 squad had better get better.
Thankfully, the New York Mets, another basement dweller, rolled into Cincy from the Big Apple for a three-game affair. Monday’s a laugher, and one for us. Handsome Eugenio Suárez hit a two-out, two-run homer in the first. Then he doubled up in the second, launching a two-out grand slam. It’s 9-0 after two, and they just need to roll through the rest of it.
Seems so e
asy when the solo homers become two, three, and grand salami bombs. It has to be more than good hand-eye coordination and a quick bat. It’s the knowledge of confidence, right? What the snake sold Eve and her man Adam on in the garden.
Reds won 12-zip on Monday. In a two-for-Tuesday thrill, Sal Stewart and Spencer Steer (SS & SS) went deep in the first. Stewart made the Mets pay for two leadoff walks. Steer went solo with two outs. After one full, 4-0. Not necessarily over, but they held on for a 5-3 win. Brady Singer pitched five full for the victory, and four guys from the bullpen pitched well enough to hold it up.
I was looking forward to the televised sweep in Wednesday’s businessman’s special. But the Cincy boys looked as flat as a winter-worn welcome mat, mustering five hits, surrendering 15, and losing 9-1. Hungover maybe? I would be, celebrating those Monday and Tuesday night dingers in Queen City bars.
Oh, the elusive sweep. The Reds, swept by division rivals Pirates, Cubs, and Cardinals, have not brought out their brooms since the first week of April in Texas. April! Those were the days, mon ami. Seems like a lifetime ago.
There’s no surge from the basement without an occasional sweep. The Reds are three games under .500 and they can’t play the Mets every week. They’ve got Thursday off. They’ve got every Thursday off in June. Good enough reason for me to get drunk every Wednesday night. But these guys probably don’t think or live like me. They probably don’t know a thing about me, even as I spend a few hours a day on them.
The six-game homestand is a sister kiss — three and three against Diamondbacks and Mets. Both dogs enough at time who could have easily had their noses rubbed into the dirt of Great American Ball Park. I’d sell singer/songwriter Jewel’s soul for a sweep.
William Meiners is the editor of Sport Literate. Among his summer 2026 plans are the documentation of 33 Reds’ series. That should be about 500 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.