CINCINNATI -- Start chilling the champagne.
Daniel Murphy delivered a two-out, tie-breaking RBI triple in the seventh inning against Manny Parra, and the New York Mets went on to beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 on Thursday at Great American Ball Park.
Coupled with the Washington Nationals’ loss to the Baltimore Orioles hours earlier, the Mets (86-67) reduced their magic number to three and opened a 7.5-game lead atop the National League East.
Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda followed Murphy with run-scoring hits against Parra in the three-run seventh as the Mets built a 6-3 lead. Duda produced two RBIs on the night, matching his total in 14 previous games since returning from a herniated disk on Sept. 8.
The Mets rebounded after going 3-6 and losing all three series on their just-completed homestand.
With struggling Tyler Clippard unavailable after working three straight days, Addison Reed worked a scoreless seventh. After an issue with plate umpire Adam Hamari, Hansel Robles then allowed a solo homer to Jay Bruce in the eighth that pulled Cincinnati within two runs.
Jeurys Familia, who surrendered a tie-breaking three-run homer to Freddie Freeman on Wednesday at Citi Field, this time notched save No. 42. That’s one shy of matching Armando Benitez’s 2001 total for the franchise record.
No one’s perfect: For the first time in his brief major league career, Steven Matz allowed an opponent to score three runs. Third baseman David Wright couldn’t handle a tricky hop on pinch hitter Adam Duvall’s two-out grounder in the sixth and Eugenio Suarez raced home from second base to even the score at 3.
Matz had been bidding to become the first National League pitcher since San Francisco’s Matt Cain in 2005 to allow two runs or fewer in each of his first six career starts.
The rookie left-hander was charged with three runs on 10 hits in 5⅔ innings in a no-decision. He struck out eight in a 93-pitch effort. Matz still remains a perfect 4-0 through six career starts.
What’s next: Noah Syndergaard (8-7, 3.39 ERA) opposes right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (9-11, 3.79) on Friday at 7:10 p.m. ET.
