(Photo credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images)

The Cincinnati Reds are five games over .500 for the first time in almost two years, but manager Terry Francona knows it's too early to put much stock in their record.

But for the New York Mets, it might be time to start worrying about an extended slump.

The Reds will look to complete a sweep of the Mets on Sunday afternoon when Cincinnati visits New York in the finale of a three-game series.

Andrew Abbott (8-1, 2.07 ERA) is slated to start for the Reds against David Peterson (6-4, 3.06) in a battle of left-handers who appeared in Tuesday's All-Star Game.

The Reds won in familiar fashion Saturday. Jake Fraley had three hits and two RBIs as Cincinnati overcame an early deficit and held off a ninth-inning rally to earn a 5-2 victory.

The win was the fourth straight for the Reds, who improved to 52-47. They are five games over .500 for the first time since Sept, 19, 2023, when they were 79-74.

Still, with the second half of the season just underway, Francona wasn't ready to declare the Reds had reached a pivotal marker in their quest to reach the playoffs in a full season for the first time since 2013.

Cincinnati is 1 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres in the race for the final National League wild-card spot. The Mets hold the second wild card.

'It's fluid,' Francona said. 'We've got a game (in) whatever how many hours. Our goal is to keep going, but we've got a lot of baseball to play.'

The loss Saturday dropped the Mets to 10-20 since June 12 -- the second-worst record in the majors ahead of only the Washington Nationals. New York had the best record in baseball at 45-24 through June 12 and held a 5 1/2-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East.

The Mets are now 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies and just three games clear of the Reds and San Francisco Giants, who are tied for seventh place in the NL, in the wild-card standings.

The Mets' slide has been defined by their struggles at the plate. New York ranked seventh in the majors with 319 runs through June 12 but has scored three runs or fewer 16 times in the past 30 games.

The Mets, who led 2-0 in each of the first two games of the series, left 11 runners on base Saturday, when they were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The top four of Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso finished 2-for-18 with eight strikeouts.

Soto and Alonso each got to the plate as the potential tying run in the ninth inning on Saturday, but the former struck out before latter flew out. On Friday, Lindor flew out with the bases loaded to end an 8-4 loss

'Obviously we'd like to put up a few more runs on the board,' Nimmo said. 'We've had streaks in both games where we put a lot of pressure on. Just not able to get the big hit right now.'

Abbott earned the win in his most recent start July 9, when he allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings as the Reds beat the Miami Marlins, 7-2. He threw a perfect sixth inning in the All-Star Game.

Peterson didn't factor into the decision in his most recent start July 10 after giving up one run over seven innings in the Mets' 3-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a doubleheader. He gave up two hits in a scoreless fourth inning Tuesday night.

Abbott is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in two career starts against the Mets. Peterson is 0-1 with a 6.39 ERA in three starts against the Reds.

--Field Level Media