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CINCINNATI — The Reds had a big inning, a three-run lead and young gun Johnny Cueto on the mound against the New York Mets. Later, they had an inspiring, three-run, pinch-hit double by Javier Valentin. They even had money closer Francisco Cordero on in the ninth with a two-run lead.

And what did they end up with? Watching the Mets celebrate a 10-8 win — New York's 10th straight victory — on Thursday, July 17 in front of 23,681 mostly disheartened fans at Great American Ball Park.

"That hurts big-time. We played so hard, but we made some mistakes," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "(We) got some balls up in the zone and (the Mets) hit them ball out of the ball park."

The first game of the Reds season-long, 10-game home stand saw Cueto and Mets hurler Johan Santana chased relatively early, Valentin's wasted go-ahead double and a rare meltdown by Cordero.

The Mets scored four runs in the ninth off six straight hits after Cordero started the inning with a strikeout of Jose Reyes. Then came a bloop single by Argenis Reyes. David Wright's two-run homer tied it 8-8 and hits by Carlos Beltran, Damion Easley, Carlos Delgado and Fernando Tatis made it 10-8.

"Leaving the pitches up; my slider wasn't good enough tonight, maybe, or they were good enough to hit whatever I throw," Cordero said. "It's one of those things. It's one of those nights that whatever you throw at home plate is going to get hit."

Baker said Cordero "came unglued" after the bloop single. And by the time Bill Bray got the last two outs of the ninth, the Reds needed another rally. They wouldn't get it. Edwin Encarnacion popped out to shortstop before Joey Votto and David Ross each grounded meekly to third.

Valentin appeared to be the hero when he drove in three runs with a two-out double to deep right off Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis in the seventh. That turned a 6-5 deficit into an 8-6 lead.

Reds set-up man David Weathers pitched a scoreless eighth. In the ninth, Cordero put up a horrible line of one-third of an inning, six hits, no walks, four earned runs, one strikeout and a homer allowed.

"It's not the first time it's happened," Cordero said of his everything-went-wrong performance. "It's not the last time it's going to happen. You've got to be ready (again)."

It made for a memorable, but not happy 2,300th regular-season game as manager for Baker, who is 1,208-1,092 in 15 seasons with the Giants, Cubs and Reds.

Cueto started hot, striking out the first five Mets he faced. But the 22-year-old seemed to run out of gas, ending with six Ks, three walks and two homers given up.

The second of which was a two-run shot to right-center in the sixth by Tatis that gave the Mets a 6-5 lead.

Delgado also tagged Cueto for a monster 438-foot homer that left the stadium just inside the right-field poll. With his 449th career bomb, Delgado tied Jeff Bagwell for 33rd on the all-time list.

Trailing 2-0, the Reds got this season's sixth back-to-back homer combo by Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnacion to tie it. They manufactured three more runs for a 5-2 lead with a five-run fourth inning that bounced Santana — his shortest 2008 outing.

"You've got to take the positives and the positives are we were swinging the bat," Baker said. "We scored some runs off a good pitcher."

New York got two runs back in the fifth on a two-out, two-run single by David Wright and Tatis' homer put the Mets ahead. The Reds rallied and looked to be in line for their eighth win in 11 games. Instead, they again face a Mets team that's zoomed to the top of the National League East.

"It was a tough loss tonight," said Cordero, who suffered his fifth blown save. "We come back in the seventh inning and take the lead and I give up four runs in the ninth inning."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.