With one massive swing of his bat, Ryan McMahon shut up the vocal contingent of Mets fans at Coors Field on a rainy Saturday night.
The Mets had taken a 7-6 lead in the seventh and the shouts of “Let’s Go Mets!” took over the LoDo ballpark. But in the bottom of the frame, the Rockies third baseman, who’s been mired in a deep slump for much of the season, hit a two-run homer deep into the second deck in right field off right-hander Jeff Brigham for the go-ahead run in Colorado’s 10-7 victory.
McMahon’s home run was his second in the last two games, that after going 103 at-bats without a homer.
“Anytime you feel like you haven’t been coming through for the team a lot lately … it’s indescribable,” McMahon said. “It’s a really good feeling.”
Manager Bud Black was happy, not with McMahon’s big at-bat, but with the approach McMahon had displayed in recent games.
“He can be productive like he has been (lately),” Black said. “What I liked was seeing him pull the ball, with authority. That means he’s getting the ball out front, which is a good sign. ‘Mac’ is capable of doing a lot of good things to help us win. So he’s capable of carrying us.”
Black won his 440th game as a Rockies manager, tying the late Don Baylor for the second-most in franchise history. Clint Hurdle has the most wins, with 534.
Colorado got two bonus runs in the eighth on Jurickson Profar’s RBI triple to score Ezequiel Tovar, followed by Elias Diaz’s single to chase home Profar. Profar extended his on-base streak to 34 games, the longest active streak in the majors.
Saturday’s crazy affair included a stellar start from Rockies journeyman Chase Anderson and a nightmare outing for Mets ace Justin Verlander.
Colorado looked to be on cruise control until its bullpen, which has been so sturdy most of the season, gave way in the Mets’ five-run sixth.
Lefty Brent Suter, who had been close to perfect over his last 15 appearances (one earned run allowed over 20 2/3 innings), was pounded for four runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning, the big blow an RBI double by Brett Batty. Suter was lifted for Jake Bird, but Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez hit a three-run, 435-foot homer to left, tying the game at 6-6.
New York took a short-lived, 7-6 lead in the seventh off of Bird, who gave up a leadoff walk to Jeff McNeil, who then came around to score on Starling Marte’s single.
Anderson controlled the Mets for five innings, giving up one run on a solo homer to slugging first baseman Pete Alonso with one out in the fourth. It was Alonso’s 20th homer in 53 games. The only Mets player to hit more homers in the first 53 games of a season was Dave Kingman, who hit 21 in 1976.
Anderson struck out four, walked one and hit a batter. The veteran right-hander has been a lifesaver for a Rockies rotation decimated by injuries. In three starts since being claimed off of waivers from Tampa Bay on May 12, he’s put up a 1.72 ERA.
“It’s humbling and I’m grateful,” Anderson said. “Coming to help this team out is the main goal. And being at Triple-A for a while, then getting traded to the Rays and being a reliever there, and then getting an opportunity to come here and start is very gratifying.”
It was surprising that Verlander, the three-time Cy Young Award winner, would take a licking at Coors Field.
In his two previous starts at the ballpark, Verlander was 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 14 strikeouts vs. just one walk. But the Rockies hit him hard and often, especially in their five-run second when they sent nine men to the plate and pounded out five hits. Nolan Jones, in his second game in a Rockies uniform, had an RBI single, Alan Trejo hit a run-scoring double to right and Charlie Blackmon crushed a two-run double down the right-field line.
Jones also drove home Harold Castro with a double in the third to give Colorado a 6-0 lead.
The Rockies, winners of 11 of their last 16 home games, have won five of their last seven series. With a victory over New York on Sunday afternoon, they can make it six of eight.
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