Recap: Colorado Rockies versus New York Mets
For seven innings it appeared as if Angel Pagan’s two-run home run in the first inning would be enough to get starter Mets Jonathon Niese his eighth win of the season. That is until the Colorado Rockies scored five in the eighth inning to win the game 6-2 Wednesday night.
Both starting pitchers had a good night, but both ended up not factoring into the decision. Rockies starter Jeff Francis only gave up three hits, striking out five and walking one. The only runs the Mets scored off him came in the first courtesy of Angel Pagan’s homerun.
Niese scattered five hits over seven innings for the Mets, striking out seven and walking none. Not a single Rockies runner made it to second base till the sixth inning. Three times he retired the side while he only faced four batters in three other innings.
The only run the Rockies scored off Niese came after Chris Iannetta hit a sacrifice fly deep in to center field to score Troy Tulowitzki.
New York lost control in the eighth inning. Hisanori Takahashi relieved Niese to start the inning. He started off well striking out Seth Smith and got Dexter Fowler to ground out to third. After giving up a single to Todd Helton and walking Carlos Gonzalez he was relieved by Manny Acosta.
Acosta intentionally walked Tulowitzki in order to get to Melvin Mora, a corner infielder with little power. Mora made the Mets regret that decision by hitting his second home run of the year, a grand slam to give the Rockies a 5-2 lead.
Clint Barmes finished the scoring for the night with a single to shallow left field that allowed Brad Hawpe to cross home plate making the score 6-2 for the Rockies.
Relief pitcher Matt Belisle earned his fifth win of the season by striking out the side in the seventh inning. Rockies pitchers would combine to strike out eleven Mets on the day.
The win improved the Rockies record to 59-54, seven and a half games behind the National League West leading San Diego Padres. They currently sit five games out of the wild card spot which their division rival, the San Francisco Giants have a hold of.
The Rockies and Mets finish their three game series Thursday afternoon. Scheduled to take the mound are Jason Hammel for the Rockies and Johan Santana for the Mets.
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