NY Mets drop series opener to Rockies 4-3 as Baty’s rally falls short

The New York Mets lost to the Colorado Rockies 4-3 on Friday night at Citi Field, dropping their series opener in a game they had every chance to steal. Eleven hits and a genuine 8th-inning pulse — and still nothing.

Freddy Peralta was solid for most of the night, where he worked 5.2 innings, struck out 8, and gave up just 2 earned runs on 7 hits. The trouble was the 6th, when a walk to Kyle Karros opened the door and Jake McCarthy drove in the go-ahead run with a two-run double to center. Peralta left trailing 2-1, and the loss goes on his ledger at 1-3 despite a 3.90 ERA that has been better than that record suggests.

Sean Manaea came on in the 6th and didn’t hold the line. He allowed 2 more runs in the 7th — a Hunter Goodman single and a hit batter set the table, and Troy Johnston punched a 2-run single through the middle to make it 4-1. Manaea finished with 3.1 innings, 7 strikeouts, and 2 earned runs. The strikeout numbers look fine. The timing of the damage didn’t.

Baty Pulls Them Back

The 8th inning gave Mets fans something to hold onto for about 90 seconds. Ronny Mauricio led off with a single, Bo Bichette followed with another, and Francisco Alvarez singled to load the bases. Then Brett Baty lined a two-run single to left, and suddenly it was 4-3 with runners on and one out.

Then Mark Vientos lined into an unassisted double play, second baseman Tyler Freeman catching and stepping on the bag. Rally over. Inning over.

The rest of the offensive ledger was quiet in the ways that hurt. Marcus Semien went 0-for-4, grounding into a double play in the 2nd that scored a run but killed the inning. Carson Benge went 1-for-4. Tyrone Taylor reached in the 5th and moved to third before the inning died. The Mets drew 0 walks on the night and stranded runners in nearly every frame they generated traffic.

Juan Soto went 1-for-4 with a groundout into a double play in the 6th was the kind of night that doesn’t move the needle. Tommy Pham entered as a pinch-runner for Alvarez in the 8th and was erased on the Vientos double play. MJ Melendez pinch-hit in the 9th and struck out swinging. Luis Torrens entered at catcher in the 9th but never came to bat.

The Mets are 9-17. The Rockies, at 11-16, came into Citi Field and handed them a loss that had no business being this competitive — and yet somehow felt familiar anyway. If Baty’s two-run knock in the 8th is the most consistent source of life in this lineup right now, that’s a problem that one good inning can’t fix.