Was Chris Young really perfect through five innings, or was I just imagining things? Young struck out the first four batters of the game and didn’t allow any baserunners until the top of the sixth, when D.J. LeMahieu rolled an infield single up the middle. One would hope that Young would shake off the hit and continue with his dominant outing, but hoping for those type of things has proved fruitless for Mets fans this year.
Jonathan Herrera followed up LeMahieu’s hit with a single of his own. Things really got bad when Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Young fielded the ball, but he threw wildly to first, which allowed LeMahieu to score and tie the game at 1-1.
The next batter, Charlie Blackmon, dumped a blooper in front of Jordanny Valdespin in left field. Not only was Valdespin not able to get to the ball before he dropped, but he overran the ball once hit hit the ground, which allowed Chacin to go from first to third in addition to Herrera scoring.
When the top of the sixth was finally over, the Rockies has scored four runs and were in complete control of the game. Chacin had a much easier time having his strong start stand up than Young did. He only allowed four hits in six innings pitched and did not walk anybody. The Mets were only able to score against Chacin in the fourth when Ruben Tejada and Ike Davis hit back-to-back singles to set up Daniel Murphy’s sac fly.
The Mets got one more run in the seventh when Valdespin hustled to turn a single into a double and later scored when Andres Torres hit a sac fly. However, the Rockies were able to tack on against the Mets bullpen in the eighth and the ninth. The last Colorado run scored hilariously when the Mets botched a run down between third and home.
Turning Point: Chris Young’s terrible throwing error that let the first Rockies run score was certainly the point at which Mets fans groaned loudest. It was easy to see where this one was going after that.
Game Ball: Chris Young deserves recognition here. He struck out nine and walked just one in seven innings, which is really good for anyone. Young was let down by some shoddy defense behind him, although his own defense was pretty bad itself.
Next Game: Tomorrow night at 7:10 p.m., the Mets play another against the Rockies. Matt Harvey will be on the mound against lefty Jeff Francis.
