Rockies 3, Mets 2: Austin Gomber pitches a near-complete game under the lights of the Big Apple

It was a short, well-pitched game to start the road trip. A combination of stellar pitching and good offense gave the Rockies just their third road win of the season, and their first Game 1 win of any road series in 2021.

Gomber pitched a bloody gem

What a night for Austin Gomber! He had a perfect game through three innings before allowing a leadoff single in the fourth to third baseman Jonathan Villar, but that was quickly erased by a 6-4-3 double play — the Rockies’ 44th of the season. Gomber’s first major error came in the seventh inning when he hung a slider and first baseman James McCann made him pay with a solo shot to center. But through the first eight innings, that was about it. He induced 10 groundouts, struck out a season-high eight batters, and pitched a career-high eight innings. Heading into the ninth, Gomber had thrown 97 pitches and faced the minimum plus one.

Unfortunately, the wheels fell off a bit and the 27-year-old lefty wasn’t able to complete his first career complete game. He allowed a leadoff pinch-hit home run to former Diamondback Brandon Drury, and then subsequently gave up a single to pinch hitter Patrick Mazeika. Since Daniel Bard had pitched both Saturday and Sunday, he was unavailable and Carlos Estévez came in to finish it out. This wasn’t without drama, as a wild pitch did allow Mazeika to advance to second, but Estévez struck out Villar and McCann while getting Francisco Lindor to fly out to center in between. It’s not a true Rockies game without some late-inning drama, right?

Gomber’s final line: 8 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 103 pitches/70 strikes. Here’s a video compilation of his eight strikeouts, because that’s pretty cool:

Go go gadget offense!

Not to be outdone by Austin Gomber, the Rockies offense got on the board early. Ryan McMahon hit his 12th home run of the season to lead off the second inning, his third in four games. It was also McMahon’s third homer of the year left-on-left, and his 50th career home run. Three batters later, Elias Diaz knocked his first big fly of the year to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, McMahon led off with a walk but was tagged out on a fielder’s choice by Joshua Fuentes. Garrett Hampson hit an RBI triple, but at the expense of Johneshwy Fargas who crashed into the wall and came up clutching his shoulder. Fortunately for the injury-devastated Mets, he stayed in the game to finish the fourth inning, but was lifted at the end of the inning.

The Rockies would only score three runs, but they had baserunners in all nine innings, including six walks (two by Elias Diaz). They also walked (6) more than they struck out (5), which is something we don’t see too often, unfortunately.

Base running blunders

While the Rockies were able to get baserunners on in all nine innings, they weren’t able to keep baserunners on in all nine innings. As a team they attempted three steals, and as a team they were caught all three times. Trevor Story was caught in the fifth, Elias Diaz in the seventh, and Garrett Hampson in the ninth. Luckily none of them proved to be costly.

Up next

The Rockies will look to continue their winning ways as they will have a familiar face to lean on. Kyle Freeland and Jacob deGrom are both expected to come off the injured list to face off tomorrow for what should be an excellent game. Freeland has been out since March 23 with a shoulder injury, and deGrom has been fighting right side tightness since May 11. First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 pm MT.