Mets lose on walk-off HR in 10th; Bay back in a slump

CINCINNATI - It wasn't Jason Bay's fault the Mets lost to the Reds Wednesday. He hadn't even been on the field for three innings when it happened.

Bay sure sounded as if he felt like it was his fault. Give him an 'A' for accepting the responsibility that comes with being the Mets' $66-million cleanup hitter. But give him something less than that grade for his performance at the plate.

Bay went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the Mets' 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park. He left six runners on base, four in scoring position. He is back in the "massive funk," as he put it, that he has been in for most of the season.

"It's painful," said Bay, who is batting .238 with one home run, nine RBIs and 33 strikeouts in 101 at-bats. "There's a lot of guys doing a lot of things to help us win offensively and I'm not one of them."

Bay was on the bench when Orlando Cabrera hit a leadoff, walk-off home run against Pedro Feliciano (1-1) in the 10th because manager Jerry Manuel double-switched him out of the game in the seventh inning. An unusual move with your No. 4 batter when you are down by a run, as the Mets were at the time.

"I completely understood it," Bay said. "Obviously, you're scuffling a little bit and you want to help out. I went out there and put my cheerleading cap on and tried to help out that way."

The Mets had a chance at their first win in a rubber game in five tries this season. Down 4-3, they rallied with a run in the ninth on Jeff Francoeur's sacrifice fly off Reds closer Francisco Cordero.

But Feliciano grooved a 3-and-1 pitch to Cabrera and the Reds shortstop hit a no-doubter that hit the yellow screen just inside the foul pole in left. All three games in this sparsely attended series in this hitters' paradise of a ballpark were decided in the final at-bat.

On Monday, Laynce Nix hit a walk-off home run off Manny Acosta in the 11th inning. The Mets won on Tuesday on Rod Barajas' ninth-inning homer off Cordero.

"We went 2-4 on the road trip and we had a chance to win three out of the four games," Francouer said. "Even get one of them and go home, play .500 on the road, I'm happy with that. Obviously very frustrating for us."

And frustrating for Manuel that Bay has not been able to build on the good week he had after Jose Reyes moved to the third spot in the order. Bay went 3-for-23 on the trip, leaving the Mets hanging without enough clutch hits.

"I think to some degree we've pitched well, we've played good defense, baserunning has been good," Manuel said. "We just for the most part haven't had that big hit to break it open or put us on top."

Starter Jonathon Niese gave up 10 hits - all singles - in the first four innings plus one batter. But his ability to get out of jams, a seemingly natural talent, allowed him to escape with only two runs scored.

It was 2-2 in the fifth when the Reds realized they'd have better luck putting the ball in the air. First, Brandon Phillips went deep to right for his seventh lifetime home run against the Mets. He raised his arm as he rounded first base, an odd display so early in the game.

One out later, Jonny Gomes gave the Reds a 4-2 advantage with a long home run to left-center.

David Wright pulled the Mets to within a run in the sixth with his seventh home run of the season and second in two days.

The Mets fell to 1-4 in extra innings; the Reds are 4-0. The teams totaled 11 home runs in the series, all solo shots.