Trouble stalks the Rockies on the road and usually finds them.
Case in point: In the eighth inning Friday night, with Jurickson Profar on third base and pinch-runner Brenton Doyle on first, Ryan McMahon, mired in a deep slump, ripped a line drive off reliever David Robertson. McMahon was credited with a hit, but instead of tying the game, McMahon’s liner hit Doyle for the final out of the inning.
The final: Mets 1, Rockies 0 at Citi Field. The game’s only run came on Brandon Nimmo’s home run in the fourth.
It was a painful end to the Rockies’ modest four-game winning streak, made worse because they wasted an excellent start by Antonio Senzatela.
And, following their tired, familiar M.O. on the road, the Rockies wasted multiple opportunities to score, leaving 10 men on base and going 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position.
“We hit some balls on the nose, we hit some bullets, but that’s baseball, it happens,” manager Bud Black told reporters in New York
Senzatela, making his first start since sustaining a torn ACL in his left knee on Aug. 18 at St. Louis, pitched a terrific game. Over five innings he gave up one run on three hits, fanned three and walked one. He induced seven groundball outs, including five in a row to second baseman Harold Castro in the second and third innings. Senzatela threw a first-pitch strike 75% of the time.
“He pitched great,” Black said. “He really mixed his pitches up and I thought the changeup was great, his slider was solid, and his fastball, from my vantage point, it looked like he was moving it in and out.”
The only run Senzatela surrendered was Nimmo’s leadoff homer in the fourth. Senzatela’s 95 mph, first-pitch fastball was down and in but Nimmo dropped the head of his bat on the ball and lined it over the right-field wall.
“Antonio sort of yanked that ball into Nimmo’s power zone,” Black said. ” ‘Senza’ was ready for this, he was ready to come back. So, good for Senza and really good for us.”
Senzatela, who threw 69 pitches (44 for strikes), was pleased with his performance.
“I feel really good and I want to thank God, my family and all of my teammates, and the coaches and trainers, for their support,” he told reporters. “It felt good to be back in the game and I threw well. I just made that one mistake.”
Mets starter Kodai Senga was erratic in the first two innings but the Rockies couldn’t take advantage.
In the first, the right-hander issued back-to-back, two-out walks to Kris Bryant and C.J. Cron but Elias Diaz lined out sharply to second baseman Jeff McNeil. In the third, Jurickson Profar and Bryant drew back-to-back two-out walks, but C.J Cron skied the ball to center field for the third out.
Senga gave up just two hits, walked four and struck out four in his six scoreless innings.
Colorado failed to convert on another chance in the ninth. Randal Grichuk led off with a single off former Rockies right-hander Adam Ottavino and then stole second base. Castro’s sacrifice bunt advanced Grichuk to third. But Ottavino struck out pinch-hitter Mike Moustakas and then got Charlie Blackmon to line out sharply to right-fielder Starling Marte.
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