A sweet start for the Rockies in the city that never sleeps

The Colorado Rockies did exactly what they needed to in order to battle the odds in the opening game of their three-game series with the New York Mets in The Big Apple.

With Jacob DeGrom on the mound, the boys in purple knew they would not pile up the runs early but the battled the defending Cy Young to create some damage, matched it with a fantastic and workmanlike effort from their starter, then attacked the ‘pen.

Antonio Senzatela was everything he needs to be once again. In one of his stronger outing of the season, against a lineup that has struggled, he went six innings and gave up just one run on four hits, walking two. Interestingly, he did not strike out a batter but he used the Mets aggressiveness against them all night to induce 10 groundouts and a couple of double plays.

If was the fifth time in his last six games that he has given up three or fewer runs and he is 7-for-10 in his starts this season giving up three or fewer runs.

The Rockies were able to get on the board against DeGrom in the top of the third thanks to Tony Wolters and Raimel Tapia.

Wolters came up with Colorado’s first base hit of the game, a liner back up the middle for a single. Senzatela was unable to advance him with a bunt but Tapia made Wolter’s base positioning irrelevant by smashing a deep drive off the wall in center, narrowly missing a home run but settling for the RBI double.

The visitors managed another one in the following frame on a series of singles. David Dahl, who worked a walk in his first at-bat, started things with a leadoff single to center. DeGrom came back to strike out Nolan Arenado but Daniel Murphy continued his excellent hitting against his former team (over .380 batting average against them since leaving the Mets) by pulling a single to right.

Ian Desmond drove in the second run of the game, following the formula of not trying to do too much and singling back up the middle again to make it 2-0. Brendan Rodgers was unable to bring in the runner from third, striking out in the next at-bat and Wolters lost a long battle also ending in a strikeout to strand a pair.

Senzatela was able to work around a walk and an error in the bottom of the fourth, showcasing more gutsy pitching from the Rockies’ staff.

He cruised through the fifth but found a bit too much of the zone on a fastball to Michael Conforto who absolutely demolished it off the facing of the second deck in right field for a solo home run to make it a 2-1 ballgame in the sixth.

Dominic Smith followed that with a single to shallow left but Senzatela got another grounder to an infielder and the Rockies turned another double play to end the inning with the lead intact.

Bryan Shaw came in and pitched a quick 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, keeping his solid stretch this season going.

That held the door for the Rockies to pounce on the Mets bullpen in the top of the eighth for three valuable insurance runs.

Tapia led things off with a single and stole second during an at-bat where Story struck out. Bud Dahl laid the absolute smack down on one, driving it into the third deck in right for his fifth home run of the season. Murphy saw that and decided “who not another?” blasting one to almost the same spot.

Suddenly, the Rockies were up 5-1.

Scott Oberg, sliding back into his setup role, left it there with three-up-and-three down in the eighth.

Wade Davis, making his first appearance since returning from the IL just a few hours before the game, struck out Conforto in his first encounter back. Dominic Smith got him for a double to left that Tapia was unable to track down against the close wall and Wilson Ramos gave one a ride to right but Dahl caught up to it for the second out.

Todd Frazier squeaked a singled off of Davis’ glove but he got the final groundout to second, completing his return and the win.

The Rockies improved to 33-29.

What’s Next

Lefty Steven Matz will take on Jon Gray in the second game in Gotham on Saturday night. Charlie Blackmon is expected to rejoin the Rockies starting lineup. First pitch at 5:15 Mountain Time.