Rockies offense silenced by Stroman in loss to Mets

DENVER – We had ourselves a good old fashioned pitchers’ duel at Coors Field on Tuesday night… until we didn’t anymore.

Tim Melville of the Colorado Rockies and Marcus Stroman of the New York Mets matched each other early through the first half of the game.

Through five innings, the two teams combined for a grand total of four hits, all of them singles; for the Rockies, both came off the bat of Sam Hilliard.

The scoreless tie was finally broken in the top of the sixth in emphatic fashion. Todd Frazier opened things up by pulling one just in the right space between Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story on the left side before Amed Rosario unloaded on one, blasting it into the left-field bleachers for a two-run shot, his 13th round-tripper of the season.

Melville got Stroman to ground out, but was bit again by Brandon Nimmo who launched one the opposite way just over the wall in left-center for his seventh home run of the season. Pete Alonso poured a little more gas on the fire by absolutely demolishing one to center for his eye-popping 48th home run of the season.

Bud Black had seen enough and went to Phillip Diehl who got lefty Robinson Cano to hit a weak grounder up the third base line for the third out, but Arenado was playing deep and couldn’t convert the barehanded attempt. Yency Almonte came on and struck out Wilson Ramos to end the inning.

The Mets added an insurance run against reliever Wes Parsons in the eighth on a single from Joe Panik, a walk by Nimmo, and a bloop single from Alonso.

Pat Valaika picked up Colorado’s fifth hit of the game and the only extra-base hit with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.

New York added another run in the ninth off Rico Garcia thanks to a double from Ramos and an RBI single by Frazier.

The Rockies made two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth before Charlie Blackmon launched a ball into orbit that was only stopped because the third deck got in the way, preventing the Mets’ shutout and bringing the final score to 6-1.