Eugenio Suarez belted a two-run homer in the first inning and a grand slam an inning later, driving in a career-high six runs to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 12-0 rout of the visiting New York Mets on Monday night.
Suarez, who opened the season hitting just .203 in his first 40 games and battled a hamstring injury, has three two-hit games and is 8-for-24 in his last six games with three of his seven home runs. The 12 runs were the most by Cincinnati since a 15-1 win over Washington on May 14.
Despite being staked to a 9-0 lead over the first two innings, Chase Burns (8-1) was not efficient with his pitches, tossing 57 of his 100 total over his final two innings. Burns still earned his team-leading eighth win, holding the Mets to four hits over five scoreless frames, striking out seven and walking three.
Brock Burke, Caleb Ferguson and Chase Petty combined on four scoreless innings of relief to finish off Cincinnati’s third win in 11 games.
The Mets loaded the bases in the fourth with one out, but Burns got Marcus Semien to pop out to short and struck out Brett Baty to end that threat. In the fifth, the Mets again loaded the bases with one out before Juan Soto popped out in foul territory to first and Jared Young lined out to deep right-center.
New York sent right-hander Tobias Myers (0-2) to the mound as an emergency starter after Christian Scott landed on the injured list with hip inflammation. Myers was in trouble immediately, as Blake Dunn opened the game with a double and scored on a Spencer Steer groundout. Myers was tagged for seven runs on four hits in 1 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out one.
With one on and two out in the first, Suarez lofted a high fly just beyond the wall in left for a 3-0 Cincinnati lead. In the second, the Reds knocked Myers from the game after JJ Bleday walked with the bases loaded. Sal Stewart singled home a run off reliever Jonathan Pintaro before Steer struck out. Suarez then drove a cut fastball from Pintaro over the wall in center for his ninth career grand slam and a 9-0 Cincinnati lead.
The Mets were led by Bo Bichette, who doubled twice and finished with three hits. The Mets loaded the bases three times and stranded 12 runners in getting blanked for the eighth time this season.
