Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this month, the New York Mets lost two out of three at home against the Colorado Rockies. On Friday night, the Mets began a series, this time on the road, with the Rockies hoping to avenge their previous series loss against the team. Game 1 of the series presented a great chance with a favorable pitching matchup for the Mets as Max Scherzer faced off against Connor Seabold.

Scherzer threw seven phenomenal innings as he bested Seabold and Francisco Lindor drove in four runs, as the Mets came away with the first game of the series in a 5-2 victory.

Brandon Nimmo worked a seven-pitch walk to lead off the game, and immediately after, Lindor crushed a home run to right-center field to give the Mets a rare first-inning lead, putting them up 2-0 early. The ball traveled 439 feet, no doubt aided by the Denver altitude, but it was a great swing and result nonetheless, one the Mets have seen far too infrequently in the first inning of games this year. The next three batters for the Mets flew out to keep their lead at two.

Leading off the bottom of the first, Charlie Blackmon bounced an 0-2 pitch right back up the middle for a single. Scherzer would keep Blackmon on first base, though, as a strikeout, popout and flyout allowed him to complete the inning having thrown just 11 pitches.

The Mets’ lead was cut in half in the second inning as a hanging curveball by Scherzer was knocked out of the park by Ryan McMahon. Like the first inning, Scherzer set the next three batters down in order after allowing the leadoff baserunner, but now the Mets were playing with a 2-1 lead.

A hit by pitch with Francisco Álvarez at the plate and Nimmo’s second walk of the game put runners on first and second with nobody out to begin the third inning. Lindor worked a full count, but on the ninth pitch of the at-bat he popped the ball up behind home plate to record the first out of the inning. Jeff McNeil then hit a ground ball that looked like it could have been a double play to end the inning, but the throw to second base from the first baseman Nolan Jones hit Nimmo in the back, resulting in everyone being safe.

That brought up Pete Alonso with the bases loaded and one out. After throwing an up-and-in fastball, Seabold got Alonso to chase a slider away for a strikeout for the second out of the inning. Seabold then got Brett Baty to go down swinging, escaping what could have been a disastrous inning without giving up a run.

In the bottom of the third inning, Scherzer put up his first 1-2-3 inning of the night with the help of two strikeouts at the expense of Ezequiel Tovar and Jurickson Profar. He also got Blackmon to pop a ball up on the infield, ending his inning after just nine pitches.

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Nimmo lined a ball into the left-center field gap for a triple, his second game in a row with a three-base hit. Then with a full count, Lindor lined a ball into center field for a single to drive in Nimmo and make it a 3-1 game. In a nearly identical at-bat to the one he had in the third inning, McNeil hit a ground ball that probably should have been a double play, but once again, an awkward throw to second base allowed everyone to be safe.

With still just one out in the inning, Alonso flew out to right field, which advanced Lindor to third base. In the next at-bat, Baty drove in Lindor with an opposite-field line drive to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. That was all for Seabold, as he exited the game after 4 2/3 innings. Matt Carasiti relieved Seabold and got Starling Marte to ground out to end the inning.

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Scherzer had been pitching wonderfully having retired his last 11 in a row. Alan Trejo broke that up with a line drive that just escaped the reach of Baty down the third base line for a double. Scherzer, however, remained composed and struck out Tovar for the second time to get out of the inning and strand Trejo in scoring position.

With a single up the middle with two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Francisco Álvarez extended his hitting streak to six games. Nimmo then walked for the third time to put two runners on for Lindor. Falling behind in the count 0-2, Lindor lined out to right field to end the inning.

Having thrown 85 pitches through six innings, Scherzer came out for the seventh inning for the first time this season. After a ground ball out, Harold Castro hit a bloop single but Scherzer was able to get Nolan Jones to strike out to record the second out of the inning. Alan Trejo then recorded his second extra-base hit of the night by lining a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third and bring the tying run to the plate. A fly ball out off the bat of Tovar allowed Scherzer to get out of the inning without giving up a run and end his outing after seven brilliant innings.

David Robertson relieved Scherzer to start the bottom of the eighth inning and was immediately greeted with a solo homer off the bat of Blackmon to cut the Mets’ lead to 4-2. Robertson was able to set the next three batters down in order, including a strikeout of Kris Bryant, to ensure the Mets would pitch in the bottom of the ninth with at least a two-run lead.

Leading off the top of the ninth inning, Nimmo hit another line drive, this time to the right-center field gap, that allowed him to advance to third yet again for his second triple of the game. Nimmo’s two-triple, three-walk game is a feat that has only been achieved four other times since 1901. Lindor then hit a deep fly ball for a sacrifice fly that allowed Nimmo to score, giving the Mets some insurance and extending the lead to 5-2.

Brooks Raley came in to pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning with a chance for a save. Raley walked the leadoff batter McMahon, a lefty. Randal Grichuk stepped up to the plate to pinch-hit and hit a sharp line drive to center field that was caught by Nimmo for the first out of the inning. Raley then walked another lefty in Nolan Jones in four pitches to bring the tying run up to the plate. Buck Showalter had seen enough, as he pulled Raley to give Adam Ottavino a chance to record the final two outs.

Alan Trejo hit a sharp ground ball to third base that Eduardo Escobar had trouble coming up with, and it bounced just beyond the dirt into the outfield. It appeared that the Rockies might score, or at the very least have the bases loaded with one out. But as the baserunner Jones rounded second base, Lindor made a heads-up play by recovering the ball and throwing behind Jones as he attempted to dive back into second base. Jones was called out to give the Mets a crucial second out. Ottavino then struck out the pinch-hitter Mike Moustakas to put the game to bed and secure the 5-2 victory.

Player(s) of the Game

Despite Nimmo’s historic performance in which he went 2-for-2 with two triples, three walks, and three runs, the players with the biggest impact on the game were Lindor and Scherzer. Lindor was able to take advantage of Nimmo getting on base ahead of him by hitting a home run, a single and a sacrifice fly to record four of the Mets’ five runs batted in, giving him 38 RBIs on the year which is good for third in the National League.

For Scherzer, this game was his best outing of the year as he went seven innings and gave up just one run on six hits while walking none. He also struck out eight batters and lowered his season ERA to 3.54. Entering tonight’s game Scherzer had never recorded a win in Coors Field, but in a ballpark notorious for being friendly to hitters, he shut them down in a dominant performance.

On Deck

The series with the Rockies continues on Saturday night as Justin Verlander (2-2, 3.60 ERA) hopes to build off of his previous start against the Guardians in which he gave up just one earned run in eight fantastic innings. For the Rockies, Chase Anderson (0-0, 1.15 ERA) will be making his third start with the team after beginning the season with the Rays. The game will begin at 9:10 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on PIX11.