Colorado 7, NY Mets 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, July 30, 2016
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
Temperature:
76°
Umpires:
Home -
Alan Porter, 1B -
Jeff Kellogg, 2B -
John Tumpane, 3B -
Chris Guccione
Attendance:
42207
By The Sports Xchange
NEW YORK -- The Colorado Rockies were all about the round numbers Saturday night, when left-hander Jorge De La Rosa earned his 100th career victory as the Rockies moved to .500 this late in a season for the first time since 2010 with a 7-2 victory over the New York Mets at Citi Field.
Now the Rockies have a bigger rounder number in mind: Ten to signify October, when Colorado hopes to be playing postseason baseball.
"Next thing in our sights (is) we've got to chase down that wild card," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said after Colorado improved to 52-52 and remained four games behind the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the National League's second wild card.
"Do that and then chase down the division. That's how we're thinking right now."
The Rockies, who have not reached the playoffs since 2009, have won five straight and nine of 10. Their 12-4 record since the All-Star Break is the best in baseball.
"The guys have really responded coming out of the break," Weiss said. "We talked about playing every game like it's Game 7 coming out of the break. That's what they're doing."
The Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to RBI singles by Wilmer Flores (first inning) and Kelly Johnson (second) as well as impressive work from 43-year-old right-hander Bartolo Colon, who began the game with 3 1/3 no-hit innings.
But Nolan Arenado's single began a stretch in which nine of the final 12 batters faced by Colon reached base. Trevor Story delivered an RBI single three pitches before rookie David Dahl hit a long two-run homer.
"We had a lot of good swings that inning, lot of good at-bat," said Dahl, who has a hit in all six games since he was promoted to the majors Monday. "Guys were doing a good job getting on base, having team at-bats. We got to (Colon) that inning. We just kept it rolling."
D.J. LeMahieu added a two-run single in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-2, which provided more than enough insurance for De La Rosa. The 35-year-old left-hander, who is the 27th active pitcher to reach 100 wins and the sixth Mexican-born pitcher to do so, allowed six hits and two walks while striking out four over six innings. He retired 13 of the final 16 batters he faced.
Of De La Rosa's 100 wins, 85 have come while pitching for the Rockies. He has actually pitched better at hitter-friendly Coors Field (52-19 with a 4.26 ERA) than anywhere else (48-63 with a 4.82 ERA).
"Got nine seasons with this team, it's easy, probably, to win all those games with the kind of offense that we have," De La Rosa said. "I'm glad to win all those games."
LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado each lofted long sacrifice flies in the seventh. Charlie Blackmon had two hits for the Rockies and is 6-for-9 in the las two games.
Johnson had two hits for the skidding Mets (53-50), who have lost four straight and five of six to fall 2 1/2 games behind the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the National League's second wild card.
"Four in a row, that's not going in the right direction," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "If we win the next four, we can forget about it."
New York scored 13 runs in the last six games and scored three runs or fewer in 14 of its last 18 games.
Colon, who started on three days' rest for the first time since 2005, took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four over five innings.
"He probably ran out of gas in the fifth," Collins said. "But you saw the first three innings -- he was doing what he always does."
NOTES: The Mets retired Mike Piazza's No. 31 in a pregame ceremony. Piazza, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last weekend, joins pitcher Tom Seaver (41) and managers Casey Stengel (37) and Gil Hodges (14) as the only Mets to have their numbers retired by the club. ... Rockies SS Trevor Story left in the fourth inning with a jammed left thumb. X-rays were negative and he is day-to-day. ... The Mets placed 3B Jose Reyes (left oblique strain) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday, and signed OF Justin Ruggiano, who started in center field and batted seventh. To make room for Ruggiano on the 40-man roster, the Mets shifted RHP Matt Harvey to the 60-day disabled list. ... Rockies OF Gerardo Parra (sprained left ankle) went 1-for-4 in his second rehab game Saturday for Double-A Hartford.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Colorado |
|
NY Mets |
Jorge De La Rosa |
Player |
Bartolo Colon |
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
6.0 |
IP |
5.0 |
4 |
Strikeouts |
4 |
6 |
Hits |
7 |
3.00 |
ERA |
9.00 |
Hitting
Colorado |
|
NY Mets |
Charlie Blackmon
| Player |
Kelly Johnson |
2 |
Hits |
2 |
0 |
RBI |
1 |
0 |
HR |
0 |
4 |
TB |
2 |
.500 |
Avg |
.667 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Colorado
|
9 |
1 |
15 |
.265 |
11 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
NY Mets
|
6 |
0 |
6 |
.194 |
10 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |