With a win over the New York Mets on Wednesday afternoon, the Chicago White Sox moved one step closer to no longer being known as the team that had the worst season of the modern era.
The Mets have a chance to continue helping the White Sox in that regard Friday night, when New York hosts the reeling Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series.
David Peterson (3-2, 2.79 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against fellow left-hander Kyle Freeland (0-7, 5.86 ERA).
Both teams were off Thursday after suffering losses to Chicago teams Wednesday. The host Mets missed a chance to complete a three-game sweep of the White Sox, who earned a 9-4 victory. The visiting Rockies endured another sweep when they were edged by the Cubs 2-1.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Mets, who set a season-high for runs allowed while continuing to struggle on offense. New York scored four runs or fewer for the 11th time in 15 games on Wednesday, when it left 11 runners on base and finished 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Overall this season, the Mets have left 409 runners on base, third-most in the majors entering Thursday behind only the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. They are also hitting just .211 with runners in scoring position, the lowest average in the National League and the fourth-worst mark in the bigs.
Despite the offensive issues, the Mets are 34-22 and entered Thursday in second place in the NL East, two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
“The way I look at it is, if this is us struggling and we’re winning games, imagine when we’re not,” said Mets infielder/designated hitter Mark Vientos, who hit a three-run homer Wednesday. “You’re always just waiting for that hot streak and I know it’s coming for us.”
Nobody has waited longer for a hot streak than the Rockies, who have lost five straight games — the fifth time this season they’ve dropped at least five in a row. Colorado is 9-47, the worst 56-game start since at least 1901, and on pace to finish with 136 losses.
That would not only shatter the White Sox’s modern record of 121 defeats set last season but also break the all-time mark of 134 losses set by the Cleveland Spiders in 1899.
The series loss to the Cubs was the 21st straight for the Rockies, extending their big league record. Colorado ranks last in the majors in both runs scored (177) and runs allowed (352).
While the Rockies were only outscored 9-5 this week by the Cubs, they never held a lead at the end of any inning.
“I’m seeing more compete just overall, but we’ve got some work to do, no doubt about it,” said interim Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer, who fell to 2-14 since taking over for Bud Black on May 11.
Peterson earned the win last Saturday, when he gave up two runs over a season-high 7 2/3 innings as the Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2. Freeland took the defeat Saturday after allowing eight runs (four earned) over 4 2/3 innings in the Rockies’ 13-1 loss to the New York Yankees.
Peterson, who grew up in Colorado, is 2-1 with a 2.12 ERA in three career starts against the Rockies. Freeland is 2-1 with a 3.03 ERA in six games (five starts) against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
