The Mets pounded out 15 hits while annihilating the Reds, 9-1, on Wednesday afternoon in Cincinnati.

Here are the takeaways...

- Leading 3-1 in the fifth inning, the Mets added on against Reds starter Nick Lodolo.

A one-out sacrifice fly by Mark Vientos made it 4-1 before Francisco Alvarez scalded a 112.6 mph single to left to increase New York's advantage to 5-1. A.J. Ewing then smacked an opposite field double that hit a few feet up on the wall in left-center to drive in Marcus Semien and Alvarez to make it 7-1.

- Nolan McLean retired the first seven hitters with relative ease before facing trouble in the third inning -- due in part to his defense betraying him.

With one out, Vientos made an error when he missed the catch on what would've been a 6-3 putout. The next batter, Matt McLain, doubled on a low liner that just eluded Soto in left field. After McLean hit Edwin Arroyo with a pitch, A.J. Ewing got a great break on a liner to his left and laid out for a diving catch -- robbing JJ Bleday of extra bases as a run came in on a sacrifice fly. McLean escaped the jam by inducing a ground out to third base.

McLean settled into a groove again after that, retiring eight batters in a row (including four strikeouts). That streak was snapped by a one-out walk in the sixth, but he wiggled out of the inning unscathed.

Overall, McLean -- who relied heavily on a four-seam fastball that topped out at 98 mph and routinely got ahead in the count -- allowed one run (which was unearned) on three hits while walking one and striking out nine, lowering his ERA to 3.67. He threw 101 pitches (63 strikes) in what was his most dominant performance of the season.

- After hitting into double plays in each of the first two innings (including a hard-luck one off the bat of Juan Soto at 109 mph), the Mets broke through in the third.

With runners on the corners and two outs -- following a leadoff single by Luis Torrens and two-out walk by Bo Bichette, Soto lofted a bloop single into short center field to give New York a 1-0 lead. Semien and Vientos then laced back-to-back singles to increase the Mets' lead to 3-0.

The Mets capped their scoring in the eighth, with run-scoring hits by Bichette and Soto.

- Bichette, who entered the game having slashed .412 with a 1.222 OPS in 53 plate appearances over his last 12 games, had another huge day. He went 3-for-4 with a walk, RBI, and two runs scored. Bichette's OPS, which was .531 on May 17, is up to .677.

- Soto stayed locked in, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI.

- Alvarez has been swinging a hot bat since returning from the IL on June 9, and that continued on Wednesday, with him notching three hits with an RBI and run scored -- raising his OPS for the year to .728.

Here are the takeaways...

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