The New York Mets’ Star Comes up Huge When Needed

It is never a good sign when a team 30 games under .500 looks better than you. Yet, that is exactly what happened in the first 17 innings of this series.

Across the board, the Rockies look like the more serious team. They have been the much sharper team. The Rockies infield has made countless good plays while the Mets infield looked uneasy on a couple occasions.

Paul Blackburn made his second start for the Mets. He was, once again, very solid. It was almost an identical start to his first one with the team.

Blackburn again allowed one run in six innings while striking out six. The Mets will be very happy if Blackburn continues to pitch like this. A quality start where Blackburn provides some length is all the Mets can hope for.

Blackburn is not a low WHIP guy. He, once more, had to pitch with runners on base a lot. Blackburn steps up his game when there are men on base. He stranded runners throughout the night.

The Mets scored a run in both of the first two innings. However, after the second, their bats went ice cold. The lackluster Rockies bullpen pitched six straight scoreless innings.

The Rockies’ relievers were by no means pitching masterfully. Colorado’s relief pitchers were not impressive. They left balls over the middle and continually threw pitches that the talented Mets hitters should crush.

Mets hitters' reactions made it clear they were missing hittable pitches. There was a lot of frustration after weak outs.

The Mets pitching staff kept the struggling lineup in it.

Jose Buttó picked up where Blackburn left off. Buttó continues to be a godsend. Today, he pitched two scoreless innings. In the seventh inning, he stranded the leadoff runner on second.

The Mets offense finally picked up in the ninth. Francisco Alvarez may finally be turning things around. He is really trying to wait back and hit the ball to the opposite field. He did exactly that in the ninth when he skyed a ball off the wall and scampered all the way to third for a triple.

The bases were eventually loaded with one out for Francisco Lindor. New York was as desperate for a hit as they had been all season. Lindor wasted no time.

On the first pitch he saw, Lindor smacked a two run single the opposite way.

Jesse Winker came through, knocking in a big third run as he also hit a single the other way. It was Winker’s best game as a Met. He had three well hit singles. The veteran is too good to not play every day. He showed his hitting prowess tonight.

Edwin Diaz gave up a leadoff triple in the ninth but then easily retired the next three batters.

The Mets did not win in dominant fashion, but they got the job done. The Lindor hit clearly meant a lot to the New York dugout. After Lindor gave New York the lead, the Mets were as excited as they have been in a long while.

Sometimes, all it takes is one hit to get a team going. We will see how the Mets respond to their big victory tomorrow.