In what has been a frustratingly stagnant year on the mound for Jason Vargas, his most recent start against the Colorado Rockies has really pushed the envelope. While his early struggles had a place to hide behind a rotation that has otherwise dealt throughout a season that was once much younger, the lefty was completely exposed, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits – three for homers.

Vargas didn’t walk anyone, but he also failed to strike out a single batter – an unfortunate feat he hadn’t accomplished in a start since April 16, 2013. His three home runs came consecutively in a span of just seven pitches in the third inning. Nolan Arenado cranked the first bomb out of sight after Vargas missed inside with a flat two-seamer. Trevor Story followed suit by crushing a 1-0 changeup into left-center field. Vargas fell behind first baseman Ian Desmond 2-0, who then took a changeup for the first strike, and proceeded to flick an 86 mph fastball over the wall in right field. Vargas now averages 2.6 home runs allowed per nine innings this year.

This was the first time a Met pitcher had allowed three consecutive home runs since Bartolo Colon did so in 2014 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Unfortunately for the Mets, while one of these pitchers had a steel arm and proved himself a model of consistency over three years in Queens, the other has floated in the opposite direction, lethargically hoisting a ghastly ERA of 8.60 on the season.

Surprisingly enough, Vargas did manage to keep the Rockies off the board in the bottom of the second inning, working around a Chris Iannetta leadoff single to keep things tied at 2. What unfolded the next inning, however, was shocking. Of the 22 pitches he threw, Vargas mustered just one swing and miss and four called strikes.

Opening matters against Charlie Blackmon, Vargas, who had lacked command of his knuckle curve and changeup throughout the night, had next to no chance of even remotely working out a scoreless inning. After retiring Carlos Gonzalez on a routine ground ball back to the mound, Vargas promptly beaned Iannetta with a 3-2 knuckle curve, fittingly ending another night that simply never got going. Hansel Robles inherited a 5-2 deficit in relief, surrendering two earned runs of his own while allowing Vargas’ last pair of runners to come home.

First signed as a back-end starter designed to give his rotation-mates and long-relievers any possible form of breathing room, Vargas, even in his scoreless appearances, averaged just over 4 and 1/3 innings pitched per start coming into last night’s contest.

Vargas’s admits that these struggles carry more weight given how poorly he pitched early which caused his stat line to look extremely unimpressive.

“Tonight definitely gets magnified because of the things that happened earlier in the season. So it’s frustrating, there’s no doubt about it. It’s not something I’m accustomed to and not something I want to get accustomed to.”

With a repertoire that has historically lacked velocity, Vargas’ inability to pitch to humble contact may have met new heights with his most recent shellacking. No pitcher particularly deserves to have their status on a team defined by their body of work at Coors Field, but time could be running out for Vargas to set himself apart as an asset to the rotation with Noah Syndergaard expected to return within the next month and Seth Lugo looking impressive in the rotation.