The Mets do not like being hit by pitches, but they especially did not like the Reds’ Joey Votto being hit by a pitch Wednesday afternoon.
Manager Buck Showalter’s team has been drilled more than anyone: 78 times through 112 games after Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo were both hit during the Mets’ 10-2 win at Citi Field. They also have argued plenty with opposing pitchers and umpires. The script was flipped when Votto may have attempted to take one for the team.
The Reds were threatening in the fifth inning, down 6-2 with two on base and two outs. The first pitch from Taijuan Walker to Votto was an inside curveball just a touch off the plate. The six-time All-Star’s well-protected right elbow dipped with the breaking ball, and he absorbed the 74-mph offering and quickly took first as Walker began arguing.
According to Walker, home-plate umpire Bruce Dreckman “said that it was still coming in, and it would have hit him anyway,” the right-hander said after he allowed two runs in six innings.
Joey Votto, who was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, belts an RBI double in the fourth inning of the Mets’ 10-2 win over the Reds. N.Y. Post: Charles WenzelbergSoon enough, Showalter was on the field talking with Dreckman, too.
The Mets manager did not want to publicly allege Votto tried to get hit to load the bases.
“I’d have to go through it and look at it. I’m certainly not going to,” Showalter said, before trailing off for a moment. “Joey Votto’s a great player and has been for a long time.”
Votto already had a single and double off Walker, so maybe the Mets benefited from the free base. The righty bore down and threw a good slider to Donovan Solano, who bounced into the inning’s final out.
“[Votto] had two hits off me, so you would think he would want to swing,” Walker said. “But it is what it is. We got out of it.”
Before the game, the Mets hosted the first Women’s Day at Citi Field. Many of the players sported shirts with “Women in Baseball” written across the back, and during the game at least 13 Mets changed their walk-up music to celebrate a female artist.
Walker warmed up to “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé. The most entertaining song selection was Daniel Vogelbach stepping up to “Milkshake” by Kelis.
For the celebration of women in sports, the Mets hosted a panel that featured women from the club’s front office, including director of major league operations Elizabeth Benn, director of revenue innovation and strategy Janaki Cash, executive director of broadcasting and special events Lorraine Hamilton, vice president of ballpark operations Sue Lucchi and Erica Scherzer, Max Scherzer’s wife. The panel was hosted by Mets in-game host Emily Reppert.
Queens native Olivia Pichardo, a pitcher who recently was named to the 2022 Women’s National Baseball Team, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
“It means a lot to me and our organization,” Showalter said. “It’s been something that’s just a given — why wouldn’t it be? And why hasn’t it been? I mean, we’ve won games this year I think sometimes [because of] contributions we’ve had from people in the organization that happen to be women.
“I hope we get to the point where there’s not a need for this recognition. But right now, there is. So it’s very important.”
Tyler Naquin’s third-inning home run went a projected 439 feet, which is the sixth deepest hit by a Mets batter this season.
The deepest was a James McCann shot on April 22 at Arizona that went an estimated 452 feet.
