The New York Mets haven’t been exactly up to snuff while coming out of the All-Star break. While the Mets have been healthy with a couple of exceptions, they’ve still been struggling a bit in this early stages of the second half.

The Cincinnati Reds hosted Tuesday’s contest at The Great American Ballpark and the Mets were able to get on the boards quickly via a Pete Alonso solo shot. His second home run since the All-Star break, as well as in the last two games.

The home run would go down as the sluggers 19th of the year. Alonso finished the contest going 2-5 and has now pushed his average up to .259 with an .830 OPS.

The Reds struck right back to tie it up when lead-off batter Jonathan India hit a home run off of Mets starter Robert Stock. While I’m not too familiar with the infielder, the rookie is hitting .276/.406/.525/.831 over the span of 275 at-bats… quite impressive.

Robert Stock only threw one inning after being removed after dealing with a hamstring injury. David Jauss had this to say about Stock and his injury.

“I definitely don’t know how serious. My wife’s a nurse…my medical background is I stay away from doctors” – David Jauss via SNY

Stephen Nogosek had gotten five straight outs and was looking extremely sharp until Joey Votto and Aristides Aquino hit back to back home runs in the bottom of the third. The pair of home runs from the Reds gave them a 3-1 to lead.

Jonathan Villar scored on a play you don’t normally see, especially from a player like Joey Votto. While Pete Alonso grounded one to pitcher Brad Brach, Votto dropped the throw allowing Villar to put the second run up for the Mets.

Geoff Hartlieb made his Mets debut as the right-hander displayed a pretty good slider but would give up a run in 1.1 innings pitched.

Luis Guillorme hit an RBI double in the eighth, however it wasn’t enough for the Mets to comeback. The Reds would take the second game of the series with a 4-3 victory.

Mets catcher James McCann went 2-4, bringing his average up to .251 on the season. In his last 15 games, McCann is slashing .302/.400/.372 but only has four RBI’s during that period.

Both teams will face off again on Wednesday at 12:35 PM with Marcus Stroman facing off against right-hander Jeff Hoffman in the rubber match.