Austin Gomber pitched two-hit ball through eight innings, Ryan McMahon and Elias Diaz hit second-inning home runs off David Peterson and the Colorado Rockies beat the banged-up Mets, 3-2, Monday night for just their third win in 20 road games this year.
Garrett Hampson boosted the lead to 3-0 with an R.B.I. triple in the fourth that sent rookie Johneshwy Fargas crashing into the outfield wall in an unsuccessful attempt to make the catch. Fargas, the Mets’ fourth-string center fielder after injuries to Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Pillar and Albert Almora Jr., sprained the A.C. joint in his left shoulder.
The N.L. East-leading Mets already had a major league-high 16 players on the injured list and said right-hander Jordan Yamamoto was set to be added on Tuesday.
“Anybody want to suit up?” Mets owner Steve Cohen tweeted in the seventh inning.
The road from Coors Field has been paved with poor play by the Rockies.
Colorado started the season 16-12 at home, including a weekend three-game sweep of Arizona, but the Rockies’ 2-17 road record coming in was the worst for any team at a season’s start since the 2006 Kansas City Royals. Colorado was on track to break the record-low .167 road winning percentage of the 1935 Boston Braves at 13-65. Against left-handed starters, they had been 0-4 on the road before beating Peterson.
Gomber gave up Jonathan Villar’s single leading off the fourth and James McCann’s two-out homer in the seventh. Pitching into the ninth inning for the first time, he allowed pinch-hitter Brandon Drury’s first Mets home run leading off the ninth and Patrick Mazeika’s single.
A 27-year-old left-hander who was among five players obtained from St. Louis in the Feb. 1 trade that sent star third baseman Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals, Gomber struck out a career-high eight and walked none.
A day after Rockies closer Brad Hand threw 27 pitches, Carlos Estevez got three straight outs for his second save.
McCann played first base for the first time in 994 professional games, and the longtime catcher’s first play was a nose-first dive into the infield dirt for a backhand snare on Josh Fuentes’ three-hopper in the second inning. The bill of his cap bent, McCann got to his knees and threw to Peterson covering first, just in time for the out. McCann had not played first since his junior year in college for Arkansas, at Memphis on March 23, 2011.
Francisco Lindor went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and a double-play grounder and was repeatedly booed by the crowd of 8,438 at Citi Field. The four-time All-Star is hitting .189 in his first season with the Mets.
Cameron Maybin, who moved from right field to take over from Fargas in center, went 0 for 3 and is 0 for 19 this year — seven hitless at-bats short of the Mets’ franchise-worst start by Charley Smith in 1964.
Peterson gave up both home runs on poor sliders and dropped to 0-2 in seven starts since beating Philadelphia on April 14. He permitted three runs and five hits in six innings.
McMahon’s 12th homer was the first this year off Peterson by a left-handed batter. Díaz had been 3 for 33 against lefties before his home run.
Mets General Manager Zack Scott spoke before the game about the alarming injury toll.
“There’s only so many layers of depth that you can rely on, so there’s definitely concern,” he said. “Definitely I’m aware that adding some additional talent is important and we are going to try to do that.”
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