Rockies annihilated by Mets 14-2

Tonight both the Colorado Rockies and the New York Mets were supposed to return from the All-Star break, but only one team showed up to the park. The Rockies’ best starter had one of his worst ever starts, the “relief” pitching provided anything but, the offense was toothless once again, and they were humiliated 14-2.

Things actually started off well enough. The Rockies got to deGrom in the first inning in what was their only meaningful threat of the game. Charlie Blackmon led off with a single, and he went to third on a throwing error on Nolan Arenado’s infield hit. Nolan slid rounding first on the wet dirt and was shaken up, but he remained in the game after a visit from the training staff. Then Gerardo Parra lined a single to right field after a seven pitch battle with deGrom and put the Rockies up 1-0. It would turn out to be their last lead of the night.

Gray struggled in the second inning and gave up two runs on four hits before inducing a double play ball off the bat of Asdrubal Cabrera to end the frame. He wouldn’t be so lucky in the third. In that inning, Gray gave up three runs and threw 28 pitches without recording an out, and he left with the bases loaded after one of the worst starts of his major league career. Only once has he gotten fewer outs in a game, and that happened in his fourth career start, which was also against the Mets.

Zac Rosscup made his Rockies debut under difficult circumstances and gave up three more runs—all of which were charged to Gray, whose final line read: 2+ IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. It’s a night he’ll hope to forget quickly.

Rosscup gave up a solo home run to T.J. Rivera in the fourth that made the score 9-1. He’s likely headed back to the minors when Ian Desmond returns to the team on Saturday.

The Rockies got one run back in the sixth on a wild pitch by deGrom, and they appeared to have a second when DJ LeMahieu tagged from third on a Gerardo Parra fly ball. But replay evidence showed that he was actually gunned down by Yoenis Cespedes’s perfect throw. LeMahieu’s groin injury clearly limited his speed getting down the line on the play, and just about any other player would have scored.

deGrom worked eight innings and was very efficient after a long top of the first. He improved to 10-3 on the season.

Jordan Lyles worked a clean sixth but failed to repeat his performance in the seventh when he gave up a three run homer to Michael Conforto that made the score 12-2.

Scott Oberg allowed two more runs in the eighth, including a walk with the bases loaded, to cap the scoring for the game. The Rockies loaded the bases in the ninth, but it didn’t matter.

Colorado will try to forget this game as soon as possible before they play again tomorrow night. It still only counts for one loss in the standings, even if it felt like five. The series continues tomorrow night when Tyler Chatwood takes on Seth Lugo at 5:10 MDT.