Stroman arm, Smith bat keys to triumph

CINCINNATI — Marcus Stroman pitched one-hit ball for eight innings, Dominic Smith launched a grand slam and the New York Mets cruised to a 7-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

Stroman (7-8) gave up a clean leadoff line drive single to left by Aristides Aquino in the third inning and little else. He struck out seven and walked one while giving New York’s beleaguered bullpen precious rest going into Thursday’s day off.

“To be honest, I have the same mentality and mindset in every game,” he said. “It doesn’t change. That’s my goal. That’s the standard. That’s the key for me of whoever was on the mound: to go deep.

“It’s a great feeling to hear the guys saying, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you.’ ”

The Mets used a combined 12 relievers over the first two games in Cincinnati.

“Highly important, right?” said manager Luis Rojas, back in the dugout after serving a two-game suspension for excessive arguing on Sunday.

“Stroman’s been outstanding this season. He’s kept us in a lot of games. His record doesn’t show how well he’s pitched. He gave us the eight innings. We needed it. We’re glad he gave that breather to the bullpen,” he said.

Stroman hit Jonathan India with his first pitch of the game, then quickly settled in after going 0-4 in his previous six starts. His only difficulty came when he was struck by Jesse Winker’s comebacker to start the seventh, and Stroman recovered to throw him out.

“We ran into a good one today,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Stroman was on top of his game. He shut us down.”