Price: Finnegan has ‘answered a lot of questions’

CINCINNATI — Tuesday’s performance vs. the Mets had many of the trademarks of a start by Reds left-hander Brandon Finnegan. He competed tenaciously to give his team a chance, but also used up a lot of pitches, issued some walks, gave up a couple of homers and didn’t get deep into the game.

Still, Finnegan left after five innings in line for a victory before the Reds’ bullpen blew the lead in a 5-3 loss vs. the Mets. He allowed two earned runs (on solo homers) with three hits, four walks and six strikeouts while throwing 105 pitches.

“I thought he was jumpy, and his command wasn’t very good the first three innings,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “He kind of settled down with better pitch quality the last couple [innings]. … Every time he takes the ball, he competes until we take the ball from him. Not his best night by any means.”

Coming off three straight quality starts where he struck out 29 batters in 20 innings, Finnegan labored vs. New York. He went to two-ball counts against 14 of the 22 batters he faced, and to three-ball counts seven times.

In the second inning, Curtis Granderson hit a 2-2 Finnegan fastball into the first row of …

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