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CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds' one-run lead seemed shaky when reliever Mike Lincoln looked into David Wright, who was 3-for-3 on the night, with a 3-2 count and the bases loaded.

The seventh-inning curveball, though, found the strike zone against a standing-still New York Mets third baseman for the second out. Lincoln then pushed another 3-2 strike past a watching Carlos Beltran in a dramatic two-hitter segment and protected the lead that ballooned into a 7-2 win Saturday, July 19, at Great American Ball Park.

"Nasty," Reds starter Josh Fogg said of Lincoln.

Earlier, Reds manager Dusty Baker was asked what he thought of facing Wright and Beltran with the bases loaded.

"Whew," Baker said. "No thank you."

With their second straight victory against the Mets, the Reds found consistency from Fogg and non-homer plate production as they moved into today's finale with a chance to win a series against what had been baseball's hottest team when it arrived at GABP on Thursday.

Fogg hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in his three starts since returning from his stay on the disabled list with back spasms (significant, considering his first three appearances as the rotation's No. 5 starter produced a 1-2 record with a 13.09 ERA). He was strong again Saturday, surrendering two runs (one earned) on eight hits in six innings. In the sixth, he froze Fernando Tatis with the bases loaded for his only strikeout on his final pitch.

"I wasn't throwing a lot of strikes early on this season," Fogg said. "I didn't command the strike zone very well with my fastball, and I was falling behind a lot of guys, which I kind of did later on in the game. I was able to get some ground balls that helped me, but earlier in the year I wasn't commanding the strike zone very well."

With the game tied 1-1, Wright popped a 429-foot home run to left field to lead off the fourth before Joey Votto singled in Adam Dunn in the bottom half to tie it again at 2-2.

David Ross singled in Edwin Encarnacion to break the tie in the sixth, and the Reds used the momentum from Lincoln's seventh-inning strikeouts to pour on four more runs in the seventh — a Jay Bruce run on an error by center fielder Beltran, a Dunn RBI single to score Jeff Keppinger and a Votto triple that plated Brandon Phillips and Dunn. David Weathers and Bill Bray then retired the final six batters for the Reds' fifth win in seven games.

Despite the big offense late, many after the game were discussing Lincoln's pitching heroics.

"That showed some big guts right there," Baker said. "He wasn't afraid, and that's what we like about Linc."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.