Rockies 18, Mets 9: Elias Sports Bureau The Real Winner Tonight

Researchers will be working through the night to prepare all of the future trivia questions arising from this game. Where to begin?

Scott Hairston became the tenth Met ever to hit for the cycle, and only the second to do so in a game the Mets lost (Jose Reyes did the deed in June 2006 as the Mets lost to the Reds, 6-5). Unfortunately, his big night was overshadowed by horrendous performances from both the Mets' pitching staff and defense.

Chris Schwinden started for the Mets and did not impress, to say the least. He allowed two runs through the first four innings tonight before falling apart in the fifth. The inning of death began with a Schwinden throwing error, which allowed Eric Young Jr. to reach base. Schwinden then walked Marco Scutaro, allowed a single to Jonathan Herrera, and gave up a three-run bomb home run to Carlos Gonzalez before being pulled from the game. Manny Acosta followed and was somehow worse than Schwinden. Many walks, hits, and errors followed, and Dexter Fowler hit the second three-run home run of the inning. When the Mets finally recorded the third out, the Rockies had scored 11 runs and the Mets had committed 4 errors. Again, that's 11 runs and 4 errors. In one inning.

The Mets were down 13-6 after the fifth inning but mounted a minor comeback in the sixth. They scored three runs, two of which came home on a Hairston double that completed his cycle. That made it 13-9, giving the Mets some hope in a ballpark where a four-run deficit can be erased in just a few pitches. However, the Mets' bullpen continued pouring gas on the fire, as Bobby Parnell allowed a grand slam to Ramon Hernandez in the seventh inning, with all three baserunners inherited from Ramon Ramirez. It was an embarrassing game for the Metsies; they finished with six errors, including a bizarre catcher's interference call on Josh Thole during an attempted pitch-out by Ramirez.

The Mets piled up 17 hits, but only three (all belonging to Hairston) went for extra bases. Ruben Tejada was 4-for-5 and Mike Nickeas went 2-for-2 with a walk.