The Mets opened their series against the Rockies with a 4-2 win, scoring all four of their runs in top of the sixth inning and allowing Colorado’s only two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Things seem to work out much better when the Mets use an opener—or multiple openers—in front of David Peterson this year, as was the case today.
Huascar Brazobán started the game and threw a scoreless bottom of the first, and Austin Warren followed that up with two scoreless innings of his own. Those three innings were crucial in this one, as the Mets didn’t score through the first five innings of the game as they faced Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano.
With the game still scoreless in the sixth, though, they broke through. Carson Benge hit a home run to right-center field to lead off the inning, and designated hitter Francisco Alvarez ripped a double before catcher Luis Torrens doubled to bring him home. The Mets had a 2-0 lead, and Sugano hadn’t recorded an out yet. Juan Soto drew a walk, and after Bo Bichette grounded out to advance both baserunners, the Rockies went to their bullpen.
MJ Melendez struck out, but with two outs and two runners in scoring position, the suddenly-hot Mark Vientos smoked a single to center field to bring them both home. That hit proved to be the difference in the game.
David Peterson had come into the game in the top of the fourth and began his outing with three scoreless innings, but a mistake by Benge, who had made a fantastic catcher earlier in the game, led to Peterson giving up a pair of runs that officially go down as earned runs. With two outs and a runner on first, Jordan Beck hit a fly ball deep to center, and Benge fell down. The runner scored, and Beck wound up on third base with a triple. Kyle Karros singled to score Beck, cutting the Mets’ lead in half in the process.
Luckily, Craig Kimbrel worked around a one-out triple in the eighth despite the fact that he really didn’t have his best velocity, and Devin Williams retired the Rockies in order for the save in the ninth.
The second game of the series is scheduled for 8:40 PM EDT tomorrow, but the forecast in Denver makes it look nearly impossible to play baseball there until at least Wednesday afternoon. For now, though, the Mets have won three of four, and beating up on teams that were supposed to be bad when the season got underway isn’t something to take for granted, especially when you’ve been worse than those teams to start the year.
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