The dog parade was just getting started on Sunday as fans walked the warning track at Citi Field with their beloved pooches.
Over the nine innings that followed, the Mets lineup was all bark and no bite, spoiling a solid performance by Jon Niese and his bullpen in a 2-1 loss to the Reds.
Niese, who had remained behind in Port St. Lucie, Fla., for the start of the season to build up his pitch count after missing much of spring training with various arm issues, lasted 5 ²/₃ innings in his season debut and allowed two earned runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
But the Mets (2-4) managed only four hits against Alfredo Simon over seven innings before the Reds’ bullpen sealed it.
“I had fatigued in my last outing in the minor leagues [Tuesday] and I felt it,” Niese said. “Today the adrenaline was going and I didn’t feel fatigued at all. I felt like I had a lot more.”
Niese was removed after 90 pitches and watched Gonzalez Germen, Kyle Farnsworth and Jose Valverde combine for 3 ¹/₃ scoreless innings. It’s a script the Mets would have certainly accepted heading into Sunday.
And yet, the Mets might as well have been in a nine-run hole heading to the late innings, given the way they were swinging.
A day after delivering a pinch-hit, game-ending grand slam, Ike Davis went 2-for-4 with a double. Juan Lagares’ RBI single and Eric Young Jr.’s double accounted for the Mets’ only other hits.
Travis d’Arnaud’s early-season nosedive continued with an 0-for-3 that left him hitless in 15 at-bats to start the season.
“We pitched very well the whole homestand,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’ve got to get the offense kick-started. We did not swing the bats like we’re capable of, and if we continue to pitch as well as we have — we’ve always felt all along that our bullpen was better than they started out, too — we’ll be OK.”
The Reds did their damage in the sixth inning. Simon, Chris Heisey and Brandon Phillips singled in succession to load the bases before Joey Votto’s sacrifice fly made it 1-1. Ryan Ludwick followed with an RBI single that put the Mets in a 2-1 hole. Niese remained in the game to retire Jay Bruce before Germen was summoned and escaped without any further damage.
“[Niese] had everything,” d’Arnaud said. “All his fastball, his changeup was great, his curveball was great and he was locating everything, so it was fun for me catching him.”
It came after a spring training in which Niese underwent an MRI exam for shoulder soreness and another for elbow discomfort. Neither test showed structural damage.
The lefty said he watched Monday’s opener at a sports bar in Port St. Lucie as he prepared for a final minor-league tune-up the following day.
“I was telling Travis between innings, you really can’t duplicate pitching off a big league mound in spring training,” Niese said. “It’s a good feeling. It feels good to be back out there. The bullpen did great keeping our team in the game and unfortunately I gave up two.”
Lagares’ RBI single in the second got the Mets their lone run. Davis started the rally with a double to left.
The Mets squandered a chance to add to their lead in the third, when Daniel Murphy and David Wright struck out in succession to end the inning after Young’s double put runners on second and third.
Overall, the Mets struck out eight times. On the homestand they whiffed 61 times, the most through six games in club history.
“We’ve got some guys that strike out and we’ve faced some good pitching already,” Wright said. “I won’t say ‘alarming’ but when you’re facing good pitching and you have a team that tends to strike out, the strikeout numbers are going to be high.”