Six-run seventh helps Rockies crush Mets
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The weather in Denver may be frigid, but the Colorado Rockies continue to be red hot.
Carlos Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with an RBI to pace a 17-hit attack that carried the Rockies to an 11-3 victory over the New York Mets that extended the team's winning streak to six games.
Troy Tulowitzki, Wilin Rosario and Todd Helton all drove in a pair of runs to help Colorado complete a sweep of the three-game, snow-shortened set, with Jon Garland doing his part on the mound by firing seven strong innings in the sub- freezing temperatures at Coors Field.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Garland (2-0) yielded just two runs on six hits with no walks to notch his third straight quality start to begin the season.
"A place like this, a lineup like that, hold them to three runs. I thought Jon threw the ball very good," Mets manager Terry Collins remarked. "Due to weather, he didn't have a good feel for his curveball, but he made pitches with it, used his changeup effectively."
Tulowitzki singled home Gonzalez in the bottom of the sixth to snap a 2-2 deadlock, before the Rockies erupted for six runs in the seventh to pull away. Tulowitzki and Dexter Fowler added solo homers in the eighth to finish off the rout.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}David Wright finished 2-for-3 with two RBI for the Mets, who wrapped up a challenging eight-game road trip with a 3-5 record. Daniel Murphy also had a pair of hits while scoring twice in the loss.
Jon Niese (2-1) worked the first six-plus innings for New York, surrendering three runs on nine hits.
With the score tied at 2-2, Tulowitzki followed Gonzalez's leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth with a hard single to left off Niese that knocked in the go-ahead run. Garland was able to strand Marlon Byrd at second after a one-out double in the next inning, and the Rockies broke the game open against the New York bullpen in their half of the seventh.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After singles by Eric Young and Gonzalez and a walk to Tulowitzki loaded the bases with one out, Rosario delivered a single to center to bring in two runs and Helton plated two more with a double off the right-field scoreboard against Josh Edgin. Chris Nelson and Reid Brignac came through with RBI singles later in the frame to push Colorado's lead to 9-2.
"The game is close, and then it seems like seventh, eighth or ninth [innings], we've been putting crooked numbers up there and putting some games away," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "It's just tough for a pitcher to make quality pitches throughout the lineup."
The Mets did get a run back in the eighth on Ike Davis' two-out single that scored Jordany Valdespin, but Fowler and Tulowitzki homered two batters apart off Jeremy Hefner in the bottom of the inning to account for the final margin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Garland was touched for a run in the top of the first, with Murphy reaching on a one-out single and taking second on a wild pitch before Wright drove him home with a base hit up the middle. He proceeded to set down 15 of the next 16 New York hitters afterward, however, and his team drew even with a single run of its own in the bottom of the frame.
Fowler got on via a fielder's choice after Young led off with a single, then advanced a base on Niese's wild pitch before coming home when Gonzalez lined an opposite-field single to left.
Josh Rutledge lofted a Niese changeup over the wall in left to send Colorado in front in the fourth, but the Mets tied it in the sixth behind the combo of Murphy and Wright once again.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Murphy ended a string of nine consecutive batters retired by Garland by lacing a double to left, and Wright followed with an infield single that deflected off the Colorado hurler's glove for his second RBI of the day.
Game Notes
The temperature at first pitch was 28 degrees, which tied an Apr. 12, 1997 home matchup against Montreal for the coldest ever in a game in Rockies' history ... Colorado last won six in a row as part of a seven-game streak during April of 2011 ... The loss was New York's seventh in a row to Colorado dating back to Aug. 20 of last season, the longest in team history against the Rockies ... The Mets held outfielder Lucas Duda out of the lineup due to a sore back, while Colorado's Michael Cuddyer was scratched before the game with a minor leg injury ... Murphy finished the road trip with a .406 average (13- of-32), 10 runs scored and seven doubles ... Young ended 3-for-5 for Colorado.