Mets rally with four runs in ninth to defeat Rockies

With no margin for error left in the waning days of the season, the Mets seemed headed for a desultory defeat in the rubber game of their series at Coors Field Wednesday afternoon. But as they have many times in the second half of the season, the team rallied late to pull out a 7-4 victory.

The Mets actually jumped out to an early lead when the second batter of the game, Jeff McNeil launched a solo home run to right. Meanwhile, Noah Syndergaard was effective early against most Rockies not named Sam Hilliard. The young Rockies outfielder homered in both the second and the fourth innings to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead.

The Mets had a golden opportunity in the third, but the Rockies defense—impressive all day—came up big, as Ryan McMahon made a great play on a Robinson Cano shot with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the third.

With the score 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the Rockies loaded the bases against Syndergaard with none out. After getting one huge out with a Nolan Arenado pop out, , the righty surrendered a sacrifice fly to Charlie Blackmon, allowing the Rockies extended their lead to 3-1.

In the top of the sixth, Pete Alonso responded as he does best. After watching a potential home run blown foul by a swirling wind, the slugger launched a 448 ft. laser through the wind and deep into the left field bleachers to cut the deficit back to one. The Mets would proceed to load the bases on a Robinson Cano double and a pair of walks. However, the inning ended with a dud as Amed Rosario popped out and Rene Rivera—curiously left in to bat by Mickey Callaway with Wilson Ramos on the bench—grounded out to short to squander the opportunity.

The missed chance looked as if it would haunt the team all the more when the Rockies got the run right back in the bottom of the frame. Colorado bunched a couple of singles and four stolen bases off of Noah Syndergaard and Jeurys Familia in an inning the could have ended much worse for the Mets than a 4-2 Colorado lead.

With the game still in reach, the Mets rallied again in the eighth, started off with an Alonso single and a Todd Frazier walk. A passed ball moved the runners up, allowing Alonso to score on a Michael Conforto groundout, but again the team was unable to tie it up when Rosario struck out to end the frame.

With times desperate, Seth Lugo came on for the bottom of the eighth and set the Rockies down in order, giving the offense one last change to respond—which they did. Finally allowed to pinch hit, Ramos led off with a walk. J.D. Davis followed with a huge single the other way, moving pinch runner Juan Lagares to third. After a Brandon Nimmo single tied the game, back-to-back walks to McNeil and Alonso put the Mets ahead.

After a Cano double play brought in the sixth run, it was all Seth Lugo the rest of the way. Allowed to bat, Lugo knocked an RBI single up the middle to extend the lead to 7-4, then closed out the Rockies in the ninth to seal the victory.

The victory was made a bit sweeter later in the evening, as both the Brewers and the Cubs fell in their games Wednesday night, allowing the Mets to move within three games of the final Wild Card spot with 10 games left in their regular season schedule.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Pete Alonso, +35.6% WPA, J.D. Davis, +24.8% WPA, Brandon Nimmo, +15.8% WPA, Seth Lugo, +14.8% WPA (10.0% pitching, 4.8% hitting!), Jeff McNeil, +12.2% WPA, Wilson Ramos, +11.2% WPA
Big losers: Amed Rosario, -22.2% WPA, Rene Rivera, -17.8% WPA, Noah Syndergaard, -16.9% WPA (-12.4% pitching, -4.5% hitting), Michael Conforto, -10.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: 4.1% WPA
Total batter WPA: 45.9%% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: J.D. Davis single in the ninth inning to put runners on first and third, 24.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Rene Rivera ground out to shortstop with the bases loaded to end the top of the sixth, -11.7% WPA