Offense erupts late to help Jose Quintana notch 100th win, Mets' ninth straight

NEW YORK — It is a difficult task to keep the Mets offense down for a full nine innings these days.

The Reds' Jakob Junis was up to the challenge for five innings on Saturday night. Once he was gone, the Mets offense sprung to life.

After only collecting one hit through the first five innings, the Mets cashed in on a four-run sixth inning, including a solo home run from Harrison Bader, to back up Jose Quintana and put the Reds away in a 4-0 victory in front of 34,048 fans at Citi Field.

The win was Quintana's 100th of his career as he became the first Colombian-born pitcher to accomplish the feat. He is the 19th active player to reach the milestone.

"Right now, I have a lot of emotions," Quintana said. "This is the first time for a Colombian player to get 100 wins. It means a lot. I can't wait to see my family and say thank you for supporting me and tell all my teammates. I can't do this alone, so I appreciate all they did behind me today."

With the win, the Mets continued their astounding run and extended their win streak to nine games. It is the Mets' longest win streak since they won nine in a row from April 3-13, 2018.

They moved into the third wild card spot in the National League, a game ahead of the Braves who fell to the Blue Jays Saturday. The Mets are now only a half-game behind the Diamondbacks for the second wild card spot in the league.

They improved to 78-64 and remained undefeated in the pivotal month of September.

"Without the right process and mentality, I don't think nine wins are possible," Bader said. "I think just take every situation, every pitch one by one, play where your feet are, whatever side of the ball that might be. If you do that consistently and cheer each other on, I think you're gonna be in a good spot."

Jose Quintana's path to the milestone

For nearly 13 seasons, Quintana spent his major-league career tinkering, rounding out his approach and ability to change speeds.

Without an overpowering fastball in his back pocket, the 35-year-old's journey to 100 wins was different than most. On Saturday, with his eighth win of the season, Quintana saw that work pay off.

"Sometimes you have tough times, but I always get my confidence up," Quintana said. "I know I'll find a way. I know how I do it and I always try to do the best. Outings like today, it was amazing how all my stuff worked. I think I controlled the zone and got all my pitches in the zone most of the time. I think that gives me a chance to win."

In Quintana's first start of September, he finished with 6⅔ scoreless innings with five hits and one walk allowed while striking out six. It was the fifth time this season that Quintana has pitched at least six scoreless innings as he improved to 8-9 and chiseled his ERA to 4.09.

After exiting to boos after his last start at Citi FIeld on Aug. 20 when he gave up seven earned runs, Quintana earned a massive ovation on Saturday.

"I'm really happy with all of the support the fans have given to us the last couple of weeks," Quintana said. "Everybody's excited, that's pretty cool to see the stadium like that. It's amazing. Let's keep it rolling. This is for New York, and we'll keep playing hard."

The veteran left-hander got some help from his defense, including a double play to each side of the diamond.

In the second inning, Jose Iglesias dove to his left to smother a sharp ground ball from TJ Friedl and kick off a slick double-play. In the next inning, Francisco Lindor stretched out to his right and threw across his body to start a double play against Jonathan India.

Quintana worked around a double to lead off the fourth inning and then only allowed an infield single the rest of the way.

"This guy's pitching. He's got to locate," Mendoza said. "He's got to mix changes. He's got to change speeds - old-school type (of pitcher). He continues to do it. He pitches with the scoreboard. He knows when he needs to get a ground ball."

Harrison Bader breaks through to lead Mets surge

After Junis worked 4⅔ innings without giving up a hit, Iglesias broke through with a double that clipped the right-field line.

But all of the Mets' damage came with Junis out of the game.

On the second pitch of the night from Reds reliever Sam Moll, Bader blasted a solo home run into the Reds' bullpen in right-center field to give the Mets the lead. It snapped an 0-for-15 streak for Bader, who entered Saturday with two hits in 42 at-bats since Aug. 15.

"Obviously it's been a tough sample size here for me individually" Bader said. "I think it was certainly a second of just relief because at the end of the day it comes down to just wanting to produce so intensely for your team, especially what we got going on here with playing meaningful baseball in September.

"This is so far and beyond and bigger than any individual, bigger than myself, regardless of what my numbers might be in the past 40 or 50 at-bats."

Moll's night ended after he walked Lindor and hit Brandon Nimmo. Pete Alonso cashed in against Carson Spiers, shooting an RBI single up the middle. J.D. Martinez gave the Mets a 4-0 lead with a two-run double into shallow left field. Lindor's walk extended his on-base streak to 35 games — a new single-season franchise record.

From the sixth inning on, the Mets had nine batters reach base after only two reached in the opening five innings.

"It wasn't easy for us the first five innings," Mendoza said. "We had a tough time picking up (Junis') slider and then he was using the two-seam to righties as well.

"Our ability to get on base, to hit for power, to put the ball in play. Coming up in huge situations. Today it was J.D. with the two-run double with two outs, but Bader was the one that got us going with the homer."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Offense erupts late to help Jose Quintana notch 100th win, Mets' ninth straight