The New York Mets are going to see Nolan Arenado in their nightmares after he walked off on them for the second time in one series, albeit in a strange fashion on a gloomy Thursday afternoon in the finale, getting the bases-loaded walk to win the game for the Colorado Rockies 5-4.
In his Rockies debut, Jonathan Lucroy — who went 2-for-3 in the game — started things in the ninth by taking a pitch of his lead arm. He moved up on a sac bunt from pinch-hitter Pat Valiaka, Charlie Blackmon, who was a triple shy of the cycle, was intentionally walked and DJ LeMahieu worked a walk of the traditional variety, loading the bases for Arenado to secure another Rockies victory.
German Marquez had another very good start in this one, working out of the only real jam he faced all day.
His final line: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. He threw 59 of his 94 pitches for strikes.
Birthday boy Mark Reynolds (now 34) launched his 23rd home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth to put the Rockies back on top 4-3.
Curtis Granderson walked to lead off the sixth, getting the benefit of a couple of borderline calls. He moved to second on a brilliant defensive play from Arenado who did his bare hand thing to make the second out but Granderson came in on a single from Rene Rivera, tying the game at three.
Blackmon led off the fifth with a solo home run to put Colorado back on top 3-2. It was his 25th home run of the season and his third hit in the game. He has 12 more hits than anyone else in the National League.
It got tight for Marquez in the sixth. Amed Rosario led off with a triple, Rene Rivera walked, and pitcher Rafael Montero hit a hard grounder that looked like LeMahieu had a chance to turn into two outs, but he misplayed the ball and the tying run came in to score as it skipped past him. Marquez bounced back with a strikeout of Conforto. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, though, after a Cabrera single loaded the bases for the incredibly dangerous Yoenis Cespedes.
After a beautiful sequence from the 22-year-old to reach a 2-2 count, Marquez threw a perfect pitch, a 99 mph fastball tucked perfectly into the most high-and-inside corner of the strike zone to get the swinging K against the Mets slugger. But again, there was no time to celebrate as Jay Bruce strode into the box, sporting the fifth most RBI in all of MLB since the start of the 2016 season. Bruce hit the ball hard, but it landed safely in the glove of Gerardo Parra in left and somehow the rookie had escaped the frame giving up just one run.
Pat Neshek came on in the seventh and surrendered the lead right away, giving up a single to Michael Conforto and a gap double to Asdrubal Cabrera to tie the game at four. But with the go-ahead run standing at second, the newest member of the bullpen recaptured his focus, striking out Cespedes and getting fly outs from Bruce and Granderson.
The Mets got on the board in the fourth with a solo home run from Cespedes, his 11th of the year.
Colorado took an early lead in the third inning. Blackmon hammered a two-out line drive double into the opposite field gap and came in to score on DJ LeMahieu‘s second straight single up the middle. A hard single from Arenado to right moved LeMahieu into scoring position and the second baseman scored on a lofted single to center off the bat of Gerardo Parra.
The Rockies got the first two runners aboard in the first inning with back-to-back singles from Blackmon and LeMahieu but failed to score after Arenado hit into a double play and Parra grounded out.
