NEW YORK -- Good pitching, and just enough offense. That's the shorthanded New York Mets' formula right now.
It worked Friday night. They got a wonderful outing from Noah Syndergaard and scratched together a couple of runs off Johnny Cueto, leading to a 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
The Mets are back over .500 at 38-37 and remain in second place in the National League East, currently 3.5 games behind the Washington Nationals. The Reds fell to 34-38.
Thor comes through: Syndergaard was outstanding from the outset, needing just six pitches to get through a 1-2-3 first inning. His fastball topped out at 98 miles per hour and his curveball was also excellent, consistently thrown for strikes.
The only blemish on Syndergaard's night came in the second inning. Jay Bruce led off with a single, and eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Chris Dominguez.
The rookie went eight innings, giving up just five hits -- all singles -- with five strikeouts and zero walks. He only needed 89 pitches to do so, but Mets manager Terry Collins brought in closer Jeurys Familia for the ninth with the heart of the Reds' order coming up.
Familia picked up save No. 21 with a 1-2-3 inning. Syndergaard upped his record to 3-4, and lowered his ERA to 3.59.
The offense: Curtis Granderson put the Mets in front early with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning, his team-high 12th of the season.
The second run required a little more work. Dilson Herrera hit a two-out triple in the fifth inning. Cueto walked Granderson and Eric Campbell to load bases, and then walked Lucas Duda as well to force in what turned out to be the game-winning run.
The Mets only had those two hits -- Granderson's homer and Herrera's triple -- off Cueto and two relievers. But it was enough this time around.
Another injury: Campbell entered the game in the top of the fifth at third base in place of Ruben Tejada, who was hit by a pitch in bottom of the fourth.
The Mets announced that Tejada has a left elbow contusion and X-rays were negative.
What's next: The second of three in this series, with Matt Harvey (7-5, 3.18) pitching for the Mets, opposed by Michael Lorenzen (3-2, 3.56). First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 4:10 p.m.