Rockies embarrassed by Mets in series opener

The Colorado Rockies could not have put up a worse answer to the painful way they ended the series in Texas on Sunday with a much worse performance on Monday night in a series opener against the New York Mets.

They battled a bit with elite pitcher Jacob DeGrom early and got a decent though far-from-stellar outing from Tyler Anderson but the bullpen has been so bad lately that almost every other aspect of the game has begun to feel like an afterthought.

Things got off to an inauspicious start with the very first at-bat of the game in which Brandon Nimmo hit a high line drive off the wall in front of the Rockies bullpen in right-center field. Carlos Gonzalez overran the ball in pursuit and it bounced back toward his original position allowing Nimmo to circle all the way around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.

Anderson got through the rest of the first without further incident but was touched again in the second by a leadoff double from Michael Conforto who came in on a pair of productive groundouts from Devin Meseraco and Jose Bautista.

The Rockies got one back in the bottom of the second on doubles from Gonzalez and Gerardo Parra. But with the tying run at second, neither Ian Desmond nor Tom Murphy could muster a base hit, ultimately stranding Parra at third.

After an easy third, Anderson was greeted by a long homer off the bat of Wilmer Flores in the fourth, a deep shot to left-center.

Colorado caught a tough break in the bottom of the fourth in a couple of way when, after Trevor Story walked, Parra hit another hard line drive off of DeGrom but right at the first baseman Flores who still had to make a nifty catch because of how hard the ball was hit.

In a scramble to get back to the bag, it looked like Story had employed a nice athletic move to avoid the tag but he was ruled outside the base path by umpire Bill Welke.

With so much going against his team of late, and the call being more than fair for critique, manager Bud Black came out to have some words and was quickly ejected from the game. It was the first time this season he has been tossed from a game.

It looked like the collapses that have been so common of late would come in either the fifth or the sixth.

Anderson surrendered a pair of singles to start the fifth but got a nifty double play from Nolan Arenado who stepped on third and got a nice dig on a short hop from Desmond at first. Todd Frazier grounded out to short to end the promising threat for New York without plating any runs.

The Rockies wriggled out of danger again in the sixth when Anderson loaded the bases with one out on a single, HBP, and a walk. Rookie Harrison Musgrave came on, though, and got a bouncer back to the mound that he made a nice play on to get the out at home. He then proceeded to strike out Amed Rosario to leave ’em loaded and give the Mets their second-straight misses opportunity.

Hometown kid Nimmo got Musgrave for a big home run, this one more traditionally clearing the fence in right-center field, for his 12th round-tripper of the season.

The Rockies got one back on a mini two-out rally from Parra and Desmond who singled back-to-back while Bautista mishandled the second, allowing Parra to come around for the unearned run.

Musgrave went out for the eighth but was immediately chased from the game on a Conforto double. He was replaced by Jake McGee who, like every man in the bullpen right now, is still struggling to find his rhythm, surrendering a home run to light-hitting catcher Devin Meseraco to give the Mets a 6-2 lead.

The wheel came off the wagon in the ninth as Jeff Hoffman and Brooks Pounders combined to give up six runs, including Hoffman walking a pair with the bases loaded, the third and fourth time in the last two games Colorado has given away free runs via the base on balls.