Justin Verlander gives Mets seven strong innings to beat Reds

CINCINNATI - On a night when their best players played like it — and one of their aces pitched like an ace — everything felt like it would be all right for the Mets. 

They topped the Reds, 2-1, Wednesday night behind a stellar start from Justin Verlander, who allowed one run in seven innings. Pete Alonso hit his majors-leading 13th home run in the second, and Brandon Nimmo put the Mets ahead with an RBI single in the fourth. 

Verlander, Adam Ottavino and David Robertson handled it from there. 

The Mets, who are 18-19 and snapped a three-game losing streak, needed a start like this. 

“I think that’s obvious,” manager Buck Showalter said. “But you gotta win all types of games. It doesn’t always follow script — a season and a game. So you gotta be able to win in different ways. Pitching as well as we did, we had a lot of people out there on the bases. We had a chance to open it up there but couldn’t get that hit. But it was enough tonight because we pitched real well.” 

Verlander said: “I know there hasn’t been a lot of length [from the starters] recently, and hopefully that comes. But your job as a starting pitcher when it’s your day and you know the bullpen has been a little taxed is you go out there and eat some innings — and hopefully quality innings. To be able to do that, yeah, it felt great. Hopefully, it can jumpstart our rotation.” 

For the Mets, the win was just their fourth in 16 games. But it gave them a shot at a series win in the finale Thursday afternoon. 

For Verlander, the win represented the completion of a special circuit. He now has beaten all 30 major-league teams. The only other active pitchers with that feat are temmate Max Scherzer, the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Royals’ Zack Greinke. 

Appearing in just his second game after missing the first month-plus because of an injury, Verlander’s outing looked a lot like his first but better: a tad of first-inning trouble before quickly shifting into cruise control. He struck out seven and issued two walks, both to catcher Tyler Stephenson. 

In short, he was typical Verlander, providing the caliber of start that the Mets have rarely received but sorely needed this season. His ERA through a pair of games is 2.25. 

“He did an absolutely wonderful job,” Alonso said. 

That he returned for his final frame at 91 pitches, then need only another 13 to retire the side in order, was a sign that he is closer than ever to full strength. He said after his previous start, in which he threw 79 pitches, that he felt “a little behind” relative to a usual season debut because of that limit. 

At Great American Ball Park, the leash came off. 

“It felt more normal for sure,” he said. “I’m still making some mechanical adjustments trying to find my timing and everything. Kind of made a few minor tweaks during the game, especially there in the third inning, that all of a sudden I felt right.” 

The Reds (15-21) got scorched batted balls from Jonathan India (111-mph single), Spencer Steer (103-mph flyout) and Jake Fraley (104-mph RBI double) in the opening inning. That brought in a run and caused Verlander to throw 21 pitches. 

But then he retired 18 of the next 19 batters to finish his night. 

The exception: Stephenson, who drew a two-out walk in the fourth. Third baseman Brett Baty made a pretty play on the next hitter, Nick Senzel, to get Verlander out of the inning. He leaned into the camera well in foul territory on the third-base side to make a backhanded catch of a pop-up. 

Reds righthander Hunter Greene, averaging 98.4 mph on his fastball, allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings. 

“He’s a tough proposition,” Showalter said. “We were fortunate to win."

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.