It was a late night at Coors Field as the Colorado Rockies (12-52) welcomed fans for a Brenton Doyle bobblehead. However, the promotion likely ended up being the highlight as the offense struggled to produce, and the pitching couldn’t contain the New York Mets (41-24) in an 8-1 loss.
Germán Márquez’s shaky, yet solid start
Márquez has been solid over his last few starts, but he definitely wasn’t his sharpest in this game. Through five innings and some change, Márquez allowed four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. The major blows came from three solo home runs that he allowed to Ronny Mauricio, Jared Young, and Jeff McNeil. The knuckle curve proved effective early on, but it became apparent that Márquezs started to falter the second and third time through the lineup and left the game after 79 pitches, 53 for strikes.
Bullpen attacked
For the second night in a row, the Mets managed to chip away at the Rockies’ bullpen. Ryan Rolison came in relief in the sixth inning and escaped a jam. However, he then issued two free passes before being replaced by Jimmy Herget. The righty gave up a single to load the bases, followed by a sac fly to give the Mets a 5-1 lead. Luis Torrens then drove in two runs with a single, with one credited to Rolison and the other to Herget. The Mets would tack on one more in the eighth on a double from Brandon Nimmo.
Juan Mejia did manage to toss a scoreless ninth as the only scoreless outing of the day for the Rockies.
No Clutch
As rough as the pitching had it tonight, the offense offered no reprieve. Despite collecting 10 hits compared to the Mets’ 12, the Rockies scored just one run courtesy of fourth-inning home run from Ryan McMahon that tied the game 1-1. It was the 131st home run of McMahon’s career, placing him 11th on the franchise home run list, just passing Matt Holliday.
The Rockies went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, leaving eight total men on base while striking out nine times with no walks. In the bottom of the first, Jordan Beck and Thairo Estrada both started with singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. A couple of quick outs to Brett Baty at second base and a strikeout kept the Rockies off the board early.
With two runners on in the third and no outs, Estrada hit into a double play and Hunter Goodman grounded out to end the threat. Later in the fifth, the Rockies had two men in scoring position with two outs and a chance to tie the game down 3-1, but McMahon grounded out softly to second to end the threat.
Plenty of opportunities arose, but the Rockies couldn’t get the clutch hit or get the big hits when they needed them, whereas the Mets made the most of their 3-for-14 with RISP.
Up Next
Chase Dollander will round out the series against the Mets with Tylor Megill taking the mound for New York. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm MDT.
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