The New York Mets ended Thursday in a playoff spot.
On Friday, they’ll get a reminder of just how far they’ve come in the last six weeks.
The Mets will look to remain perfect on their six-game homestand Friday night when they host the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series.
Left-hander Sean Manaea (5-3, 3.43 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Rockies rookie right-hander Tanner Gordon (0-1, 7.11).
The Mets completed a sweep of the visiting Washington Nationals on Thursday afternoon as David Peterson combined with four relievers on a six-hitter in a 7-0 win. The Rockies missed a chance to earn a split of their four-game series Thursday when they fell to the host Cincinnati Reds 8-1.
The sweep of the Nationals continued a lengthy resurgence for the Mets, who were 22-33 through May 29 — the third-worst record in the National League and just two games ahead of the Rockies and three games ahead of the Miami Marlins.
But New York has gone an NL-best 25-12 since May 30 to climb two games over .500 for the first time since April 24 and into the third NL wild-card spot, a percentage point ahead of the San Diego Padres.
With one win against the Rockies, the Mets will clinch a winning record entering the All-Star break.
“We put in a lot of work to get back to this point because we dug ourselves a bit of a hole,” said Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth inning Thursday with a three-run double and is hitting .302 with nine homers and 33 RBIs since May 30. “We believe we’re a good team. We don’t believe this is a fluke.”
A Mets-like comeback appears unlikely for the Rockies, who have gone an NL-worst 13-26 since May 30 and are on pace to lose 100 games for a second straight season.
Colorado won three straight against the contending Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals from July 4-6 but has dropped four of its last five by a combined margin of 41-14. The Rockies have been out-homered 13-6 in their last five games and have surrendered four three-run homers — including Tyler Stephenson’s shot to open the scoring in the third inning Thursday.
Colorado hasn’t hit a homer with more than one runner on since June 22, when Brendan Rodgers hit a three-run round-tripper in the third inning of an 8-7 win over the Nationals.
“The three-run homer will really hurt a starting pitcher — or any pitcher, for that matter, in a close game,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We need those on the other end. That’s what we need for our offense.”
Manaea didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start last Sunday, when he allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings in the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is 2-2 with a 5.28 ERA in six career games (five starts) against the Rockies.
Gordon lost his major league debut Sunday after giving up five runs over 6 1/3 innings as the Rockies fell to the Royals 10-1.
–Field Level Media