Rockies 6, Mets 3 (Coors Field, Denver, CO)
Mets Record: 59-54
Mets Streak: L1
Mets Last 10: 4-6
WP: Justin Lawrence (3-4)
LP: Luis Severino (7-5)
Seat On The Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Today's Seat On The Korner goes to Jake Cave. Colorado's left fielder not only hit the game's only home run and drove in an insurance run, but he also moved quickly on the wet outfield to snag Brandon Nimmo's two-out double in the seventh. Cave got the ball in so quickly that Francisco Lindor had to hold at third base. The Mets didn't score and Colorado went on to win, 6-3.
Need To Know:
Despite the loss Tuesday the Mets have a 120-109 all-time record vs. the Rockies. Colorado's first ever game was at Shea Stadium in 1993. Dwight Gooden blanked the Rockies on day one. Two years later the clubs played the first game at Coors Field as the Rockies repeatedly rallied and won in 14 innings. That is how this rivalry has gone through the years. The Mets are 75-43 in New York (including winning two of three at Citi in July), but they are now 45-66 in Denver.
The two names that stand out in this 229-game history are Todd Helton and David Wright. Helton played 103 games against the Mets. Since Charlie Blackmon is a distant second in games played vs. the Mets (67, including Tuesday), Helton holds most of the Colorado records against New York. Wright leads in most games against the Rockies (67), hits (81), homers (14), and RBI (51). Among Mets with at least 100 at bats, the leader in batting average (.352) and slugging (.632) is the same guy: Bobby Bonilla! And you wonder why the team's still paying him.
The Mets continue to have problems scoring. And not just in Denver. Between last Monday's 15-run explosion against Minnesota and this Monday's 6-run outburst against the Cardinals in a makeup game, the Mets scored just 16 times over 5 games. New York went 2-3 in that span against the Twins and Angels.
The Mets are 13-15 against the American League this year. The Mets still have series against six AL teams: Seattle (this weekend), Oakland (next week), Baltimore (Aug. 19-21), White Sox (Aug. 30-Sept. 1), Red Sox (Sept. 2-4), and Toronto (Sept. 9-11).
Turning Point
You expect the Rockies to score at home, but the Mets scoring just three times and their inability to score at all after the fifth inning doomed the team to defeat. Colorado's bullpen, not a strength, tossed 4.1 innings without allowing a run. Failures by the Mets with runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh were their undoing. Jesse Winker's double play grounder in the sixth was perhaps the worst of the two, but a single the following inning by J.D. Martinez with two on might have led to a different result as well.
Three Keys:
The Two-Out Nightmare
The Rockies, who came into the game with a 41-72 record, ruled the rainy night by coming through with two outs on the mound and at the plate. Though the difference between the two teams was 1 extra hit with runners in scoring position (Colorado was 3-for-7, the Mets 2-for-7), the Mets were eerily quiet in the hitting factory after the fourth inning. Early on the Mets had some two-out magic, with Harrison Bader singling in the first two runs of the night with two on and two out in the second. Brandon Nimmo added a two-out RBI single in the fifth. Nimmo took second on the throw home, but J.D. Martinez fanned with the tying run at second. Pinch hitter Jesse Winker came up with men on the corners in the sixth and hit into a double play. The Mets got the tying runs on base again in the seventh after a two-out double by Nimmo put men on second and third with two outs, but J.D. Martinez bounced out to end the threat. Meanwhile, the Rockies teed it up with two outs. Elias Diaz had a game-tying two-out single, followed by Jake Cave's classic Coors Field home run: an opposite field flyball that just kept carrying in the thin air and landed 372 feet feet away in the first row for a two-run home run. Luis Severino, making his first career start in Denver, stood on the mound in disbelief. The Rockies added two more two-out RBI to pad the lead by Rodgers and Diaz, respectively.
The Nine-Minute Rain Delay
Colorado weather is as wacky as Coors Field. Blame the Rockies--the mountains or the team, take your pick (late night humor--we love the the big mountains). Rockies starter Kyle Freeland had blister problems that brought the Rockies' brain trust out to see him in the top of the fifth as the rain came down harder and harder. Manager Bud Black let the southpaw pitch to Brandon Nimmo, who singled in a run to make it 5-3. Freeland came out and because it was for an injury, Justin Lawrence had as much time as he needed to warm up. The rain kept coming and he warmed up. The next inning the umpires finally called the teams off the field, but the grounds crew did not cover the field. The changeable Colorado weather saw the rain die down and the rain soon abated. So Luis Severino came right back out to pitch. He gave up a fifth run that inning on a Brendan Rogers two-out single.
The Two-Error Play
When the Mets allowed their first unearned run in 30 games, you had the feeling this could go the wrong way. And it was an ugly play. Kris Bryant, the former MVP and World Series hero for the Cubs, has not had much luck in Denver. He appeared in just his 33rd game of the year and has yet to play more than 80 games in a season in the three years since signing a seven-year mega deal in Denver. But his single in the second sent the runner to third with nobody out. Bryant was running gingerly and had no intention of taking second on the ball hit into the gap in right center. Harrison Bader's throw, however, sailed past Francisco Lindor and pitcher Luis Severino--not for the first time--didn't back up the play. The ball bounced toward the Mets dugout and third baseman Mark Vientos slid to stop it, only to have the ball roll out of his glove and through a raggedy mesh fence and out of play. The umpires sent Brendan Rodgers home and Bryant to third base. Both Bader and Vientos received errors on the play. A nice play on a hard-hit grounder by Julio Iglesias cut down Bryant at the plate. But the Rockies caught the breaks from that point on.
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