As May ended, the New York Mets saw signs they may be close to fixing their season-long struggles in clutch situations.
But the Colorado Rockies seem no closer to solving their various maladies.
The Mets will look to complete a sweep on Sunday afternoon, when New York hosts Colorado in the finale of a three-game series.
Right-hander Clay Holmes (5-3, 2.98 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Rockies left-hander Carson Palmquist (0-3, 8.78).
Brett Baty laced a three-run triple in the first inning Saturday, when the Mets rolled to an 8-2 win.
Baty’s triple erased a 1-0 Rockies lead and was the second of three key hits with runners on base in the series for the Mets. Brandon Nimmo hit a two-run homer with two outs in the fourth to extend New York’s lead to 6-1.
The Mets earned a 4-2 win Friday night, when Juan Soto delivered a two-out RBI double in the third inning.
Despite being tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the National League East, the Mets are hitting just .228 with runners on base, the fourth-worst mark in the majors.
“You don’t fix these things overnight, you build on it step-by-step,” Nimmo said. “So we’re definitely looking to improve and we’ll be trying to do that on a day-to-day basis.”
No team in baseball better understands that things can’t be fixed overnight than the Rockies, who are 9-49 and almost halfway to their third straight 100-loss season.
Colorado, whose 58-game start is the worst since at least 1901, is on pace to lose 137 games, which would break both the modern record of 121 losses set last season by the Chicago White Sox as well as the all-time mark of 134 set by the Cleveland Spiders in 1899.
The Rockies have lost their last seven games to fall to 4-23 in May after posting a 4-22 mark in April. Twelve of Colorado’s defeats in May were by three runs or fewer, including five straight before Saturday, when the first-inning lead lasted just one out in the bottom half.
“Today was not our best game, admittedly,” interim Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “But we have been playing good baseball for the last 10 days. We just haven’t had the ‘W’s’ coming.”
Holmes didn’t factor into the decision on May 26, when he allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings in the Mets’ 2-1 home win over the Chicago White Sox. Palmquist took the defeat on May 26, surrendering two runs over five innings in the Rockies’ 3-1 road loss to the Chicago Cubs.
Holmes is 0-0 with a 1.17 ERA and two saves over 7 2/3 innings in six career relief appearances against the Rockies. Palmquist, who will be making his fourth big league start, has never opposed the Mets.
–Field Level Media
