Romano wins in N.Y. homecoming

Reds snap 3-game skid with 6-1 win over the Mets.

About 200 of NEW YORK —

Sal Romano’s friends and family members drove twoplus hours to see him Tuesday night. A 1-hour, 40-minute rain delay wasn’t going to deter that group from enjoying the right-hander’s homecoming start.

Romano won in New York for the first time as a big leaguer, pitching into the seventh inning to lift the Cin- cinnati Reds over the Mets 6-1 in a game delayed by a thunderstorm in the first inning.

Romano (7-9) was born in Syosset on nearby Long Island and grew up in Southington, Conn. He allowed a run, two hits and three walks while striking out five over six-plus innings to help the Reds snap a three-game skid.

“I was glad I was able to get a win for them,” Romano said of his fan section.

The 24-year-old righthander took the mound two hours later than anticipated but with a 3-0 lead thanks to a Reds rally that bookended the delay. Mets starter Jason Vargas allowed hits to three of the four batters he faced, including Scooter Gennett, who laced an RBI single to give Cincinnati the lead shortly before players were waved off the field at 7:20 PM — just nine minutes after first pitch.

Once play resumed, Phil- lip Ervin lofted a sacrifice fly off Paul Sewald, and Tucker Barnhart delivered a run-scoring single. That was more than enough for Romano, who conducted a second, shorter warm-up prior to the resumption. He gave up both hits in the sec- ond, when Brandon Nimmo doubled with two outs and scored on Jose Bautista’s single.

Romano didn’t factor into the decision in his first start in New York against the Mets last season. He left after walking the first two batters of the seventh Tuesday and received a warm ovation from his traveling crew wear- ing Reds gear behind the visiting dugout. He said he had a couple hundred sup- porters in the stands, and he greeted about 60 friends and family members in the tunnel outside the Cincinnati clubhouse after the game.

“It’s always nice to look up and you see all that red there, knowing they’re all here for me,” Romano said.

Ervin hit a two-run homer in the third, and former Mets prospect Dilson Herrera led off the ninth with a pinch- hit homer as the Reds scored more than four runs for just the second time in their last nine games.