Mike Leake pitched three-hit ball for seven sharp innings and the Cincinnati Reds parlayed star third baseman David Wright's early error Tuesday night into a 4-0 victory over the New York Mets.
Devin Mesoraco homered as the Reds won for the ninth time in 11 games. They scored three times in the first inning after Wright let a bases-loaded, two-out grounder skip through his legs.
Leake (4-2) struck out four, walked two and became the latest pitcher to shut down the Mets at Citi Field. New York has lost 10 of 12 at home, rarely scoring many runs.
Leake escaped his biggest jam by retiring slumping Ike Davis on a grounder with runners on second and third to end the fourth.
The 25-year-old righty has never pitched a shutout in the majors, and was pulled for reliever Sam LeCure to begin the eighth.
LeCure and Logan Ondrusek each threw a hitless inning to complete the shutout.
Jonathon Niese (3-5) wasn't charged with an earned run, but he hurt himself with continuing control troubles. He walked three, all on full counts in the opening inning.
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Niese set down the first two batters of the night before Joey Votto walked, Brandon Phillips looped a single and Jay Bruce walked.
Todd Frazier followed with a hard grounder right at Wright, and the ball bounced under his glove and let two runs score. Earlier this season, Wright ran his errorless streak to 77 games, a team record for third basemen.
Donald Lutz then beat out an infield hit that reloaded the bases and Mesoraco drew another walk that forced home a run. Niese struck out Leake to end an inning in which he threw 48 pitches.
Mesoraco hit reliever Collin McHugh's first pitch in the ninth for his second home run.
Votto extended his hitting streak to 10 games while Bruce's string ended at 11.
