Mets 9, Rockies 1 (Coors Field, Denver, CO)
Mets Record: 61-54
Mets Streak: W2
Mets Last 10: 6-4
WP: David Peterson (6-1)
LP: Austin Gomber (3-8)
Seat On The Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Today's Seat On The Korner goes to Pete Alonso. His two towering drives off Austin Gomber provided the Mets with a series win and for the moment pushed the Mets past the Braves into the third (and final) Wild Card spot in the National League. He now has 217 career home runs, putting him just three homers behind Mike Piazza for third on the team home run list. He is sixth in team history with 561 career RBI.
Need To Know:
David Peterson enjoyed home cooking and pitching at his hometown ballpark for the first time in the majors. He lives just 25 minutes from Coors Field and he had a pleasant midweek visit home. With his wife, new baby, and 30 more people watching his first career start at Coors, he tossed five solid innings. Peterson allowed just one run on four hits, fanning five and walking three, and lowering his ERA from 3.47 to 3.34. It didn't hurt his comfort factor that the Mets gave him a 4-0 lead before he took the mound.
Adam Ottavino is from New York, but he spent seven years toiling on the mound at Coors Field and lived to tell the tale. His last appearance with the Rockies was in a playoff game in 2018. At 38 he is in his 14th major league season with his fifth team. Ottavino pitched a scoreless sixth inning at his old stomping grounds. After being a punching bag earlier this year as he went from Mets setup man to mopup man, Ottavino has lowered his ERA from 5.96 ERA on June 3 to 4.25 after his outing in Denver.
The Mets played in three time zones in an many days in this long, strange trip to the west. But they have also seen plenty of sunshine (plus a few showers in Colorado). Thursday marked the third day game in the first seven days on the 10-game road trip. The Mets were 1-2 in Pacific time (Anaheim), 1-0 in Central Time (St. Louis), and 2-1 in Mountain time. The Mets will return this weekend to Pacific time (Seattle). After two night games (a 10:10 start on Friday and 9:40 on Saturday) the Mariners will host their first Sunday Night Baseball appearance in 20 years. Though it'll be night for those watching in the east, it will be during daylight hours in Washington state--the Mets will finally return to East Coast time to play host to a team from the Pacific Coast: the Oakland--for now--A's.
Turning Point
It happened as early as possible, After two relatively low-scoring game at Coors Field, the Mets exploded out of the gate in the first inning on Thursday afternoon. For the first time in team history the Mets started a game with four straight extra-base hits: a double by Francisco Lindor, a double by Julio Iglesias, a double by J.D. Martinez, and then a 471-foot bomb by Pete Alonso. The Mets kept adding runs throughout the day as every player had at least one hit, while the first five hitters drove in all the runs in the 9-1 laugher: Lindor (1), Iglesias (2), Martinez (1), Alonso (3), and Vientos (2).
Three Keys:
Peterson Pushes Past the Home Folks
In 12 starts since coming back from hip surgery, Peterson has been quite consistent for a team that has had a lot of pitching issues. The southpaw, whose only other game at Coors Field was in high school, got a lot of support while pitching against the team he grew up rooting for. He took the mound in the fifth with a 7-0 lead following a two-run shot by Mark Vientos in the top of the inning. But anyone who has watched many games in Denver knows that a 7-run lead can disappear faster than you can say touchdown. Three straight Rockies reached base with one out in the fifth to bring up Brenton Doyle, who was named National League Player of the Month for July after hitting .333 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs for the Rockies. Doyle drove the ball to the gap in left-center, but Tyrone Taylor, who made several nice plays in left field, tracked it down and turned it into a mere sacrifice fly. The play short-circuited a big inning and allowed Peterson to get through five and improve to 6-1 on the year.
On the Mark
After a night off, Mark Vientos lashed a one-handed home run to left field in the fifth inning. It was his 17th home run of the year. In 77 career major league games prior to 2024, he had 10 home runs
Pete's Second Home Run Comes in the Third
The Mets did not homer in the first two games of the series at Coors Field, but Pete Alonso took care of that with home runs in his first two at bats in Denver on Thursday. His second time up he launched a 454-foot blast in the third inning to make it a 5-0 game.
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