Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Despite a late rally, the New York Mets left the tying run stranded in scoring position in the ninth inning as they dropped the first game of a four-game set with a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
After losing the last two games in Miami to finish off a 3-6 road trip, the Mets returned home to face a Rockies team that was just 2-17 on the road this season. But that didn’t matter, as Colorado picked up their third win away from Coors Field against a Mets roster that has been decimated by injuries.
The Mets also lost another player in center fielder Johneshwy Fargas, who suffered an AC joint sprain in his shoulder after slamming into the wall while trying to make a catch in the fourth inning.
Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber, who had a road ERA north of six entering the night, stifled the Amazins’ depleted offense going eight innings, while allowing two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts.
One of the few bright spots for the Mets on Monday night was James McCann, who played his first professional game at first base and produced his second home run of the year, along with a diving play in the field. But unfortunately, the team couldn’t do much else at the plate besides a Brandon Drury solo homer in the ninth to cut the deficit to one run.
While Patrick Mazeika followed up Drury’s homer with a single to right, Jonathan Villar and Francisco Lindor failed to capitalize, before McCann struck out to leave the tying run on second base.
“Petey threw the ball well,” said McCann. “Unfortunately as an offense we didn’t come through enough.”
Left-handed pitcher David Peterson was on the losing end of Monday night’s contest, but produced a solid outing. Peterson went six innings, giving up three runs on two homers and an RBI triple.
“It doesn’t feel good when you lose, no matter how well you pitch,” said Peterson.
Peterson’s start can be looked at as a positive given the length he was able to provide in order to limit the bullpen usage to just three innings. Due to several injuries in the rotation, the bullpen has been overworked as of late, and last night, despite the loss, the Mets only had to use two relievers in Jacob Barnes, who tossed two scoreless innings, and Yennsy Diaz, who handled the ninth.
Following the club’s third straight loss, Mets manager Luis Rojas tried to find a silver lining despite the current bleak state of the team.
“There are challenges in different ways in this game and in life, I think we have the right attitude toward anything that comes our way,” said Rojas. “These things keep happening and it has happened a lot because guys play hard.”
On the bright side, Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom is set to make his return from the I.L. on Tuesday against the Rockies in Game 2 of this series. With as rough as the offense has been the past few days, the Mets might need the steady hitting deGrom to put the team on his back with both his arm and bat in order to get them back in the win column.
