The Mets (16-14) beat the Rockies (19-14) by a score of 5-1 on Sunday afternoon in Colorado to salvage the final game of their four-game series.
Dillon Gee got the start for the Mets and was once again solid, tossing six-plus scoreless innings while striking out 5 and allowing only 6 hits and a walk. Gee also came somewhat close to being the first Mets pitcher to get a hit this season, but it was not in the cards…
The Mets got off to a quick start in the first inning, continuing the series-long patter of early fireworks. Juan Lagares got things started (of course) with a single and Daniel Murphy followed him up with a base hit of his own. After David Wright struck out, Curtis Granderson— who has shown signs of being an actual Major League Baseball Player lately— drove in Lagares with New York’s third hit of the inning.
Of course, the Mets still had to do something Mets-esque before the inning was over. Chris Young hit a shallow fly ball out to left and Daniel Murphy faked a break for home when the ball was caught. The throw from left was cut off and Murphy— who seemed to momentarily forget where he was, where he was from, and who he worked for— was thrown out trying to get back to the bag.
The Mets added another pair of runs in the 3rd inning. Murphy worked a walk and Wright cracked a deep double to center to chase him home. Chris Young hit another double to score David and set the Mets up for a huge inning, but Travis d’Arnaud— who had a rough evening— hit into a double play to hold New York to 2.
The Mets came right back for more in the next inning. Juan Lagares “doubled” on a ball that was misplayed by Corey Dickerson, and Murph doubled him home to make it 4-0. New York scored one more time in the 7th when CY walked and hustled around to score from first on Lucas Duda‘s double.
Dillon Gee ran into some trouble in the bottom of the 7th when Michael McKenry and Dickerson led off the inning with singles, and was pulled for Carlos Torres. Torres did his job, getting a groundout and a strikeout before departing for Scott Rice, who retired the lefty Charlie Blackmon to end the inning and close the book on Gee.
The Rockies got a run in the 9th when Justin Morneau greeted Jeurys Familia with a homer to right, but Familia retired the next 3 hitters to end the game and avoid the sweep.
I wrote a few days ago that Curtis Granderson had been showing some signs of turning it around lately. After a very solid series in Colorado for The Truest New Yorker Of Them All, there seems to be some hope that Grandy is ready to start earning that salary.
Reports surfaced yesterday that the Mets were ready to commit to Juan Lagares as their everyday center fielder. The next day, Eric Young allegedly has a freak injury in the batting cage, away from all the cameras. Coincidence? I think n– actually, yeah, that probably is a coincidence. But anyway, while I hope for EY to make a quick recovery, Lagares has just been amazing so far and the Mets need him on the field. Hopefully, the 3 remaining outfielders will stay healthy and productive so that Eric can take his time.
The 3rd outfielder, of course, is Chris Young, who also had a terrific series this week and has been quite productive of late. Chris was an All-Star a few years ago, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see him performing well. But, since the Mets signed him as a free agent, it’s obviously a huge surprise to see him performing well…
Gee has been rock-solid all year, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions. When the Rockies got 2 men on to lead off the 7th, I was a bit worried that the Mets had left Dillon in for too long once again. Fortunately, Terry Collins realized that Gee had run out of steam and went to the bullpen, and the relievers were able to get out of the gym and preserve a very solid outing for Gee. I was actually a bit surprised that Gee didn’t start to crumble in the 6th, given his pitch count, but maybe his small apparent increase in stamina is an indication that he is getting into mid-season form (from a conditioning standpoint).
The Mets did a solid job with the bats in this series, and they should have come away with at least split, but a collapse on Saturday night and some pretty shaky starting pitching throughout the first 3 games of the series has forced us to settle for a 3-1 defeat in Colorado. Still, if you’re going to get only 1 win in a series, it’s best to have it be the final game to give you some momentum to take into your next matchup.
Enjoy the rest of your night, Mets fans. I’m off to watch the Rangers’ playoff game, and I’ll spend much of the game imagining how excited I will be when, one day, our Mets are back on the playoff stage.
Up next: The Mets will fly to Miami to begin a 3 game series with the Marlins. Jon Niese (2-2, 2.20 ERA) will face off against Nathan Eovaldi (2-1, 2.58 ERA) tomorrow night at 7:10 PM.
