The Mets got home runs from Ronny Mauricio, Jared Young, and Jeff McNeil and six innings of one-run ball from Clay Holmes to beat the Rockies 8-1 on Saturday night in Colorado.
New York started the game hitless in seven chances with runners in scoring position, but got enough timely hits (3-for-7 from then on, including three two-out RBI) to go along with three solo home runs.
Holmes gave the Rockies chances, but he managed to wriggle out of numerous jams (he allowed nine hits) and stranded eight runners on the night as the Mets improved to 41-24 (.631) on the year and 17-17 in games played outside of Flushing. New York has now won 11 of 14 games, as Colorado fell to an ghastly 12-52 (.189).
Here are the takeaways…
– Holmes allowed four hits over his first three innings, but worked himself out of a pair of two-on and nobody-out jams with three strikeouts and a 6-4-3 double play through nine outs. But he got burned to start the fourth when he threw one slider too many to Ryan McMahon, who launched a 392-foot opposite-way homer to level the score. (It was the eighth slider thrown to McMahon out of nine offerings over two at-bats.)
The Mets’ defense didn’t give Holmes too much help early. In the bottom of the first, after allowing a leadoff single, the righty induced a grounder to second, but Brett Baty broke to his right and the ball shot to his left, giving Colorado runners at first and third instead of a 4-6-3 double play. The miscue (ruled a hit) didn’t cost the Mets, and Baty made up for it by snagging a hard liner for the first out and ranging deep into center to catch a pop fly for the second.
McNeil, making his eighth start in center, made a couple of routine plays, but with two out in the bottom of the fifth, he failed to come up with a shallow pop-up, missing the ball as he went into a feet-first slide. But the base hit, which put two in scoring position, didn’t lead to any runs.
With two out in the sixth, Mauricio gloved a bouncer down the third base line but couldn’t hang onto the ball behind the bag. The error, the Mets' first of the game, put runners on first and second, but Holmes got a bouncer to short to end the threat.
– Mauricio got a hanging knuckle curve from Rockies starter German Marquez and just demolished it – 456 feet, 110.3 mph off the bat into the third deck in right field to start the third. He singled in the fifth, wasted no time swiping second base, and then came around to score on Brandon Nimmo’s single through the left side of the infield. The base hit was the Mets’ first with a runner in scoring position of the game, for a 3-1 lead.
Nimmo, coming off a 0-for-5 on Friday, hit the ball hard the first three times he was up, driving one to the warning track and hitting another liner hard to center before his base hit. He added a two-out RBI double in the eighth to finish the day 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI. Mauricio ended 2-for-4, with three hard-hit balls.
– Young jumped on a first-pitch fastball for an opposite-field homer to open the fifth to put the Mets ahead for good. It was the DH’s second homer of the year, 385 feet, 103.6 mph. He finished 1-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter.
– McNeil made his apology for not ending the bottom of the fifth when he started the top of the sixth with a solo shot to right, cranking a Marquez middle-middle fastball 414 feet to right (101.2 mph) to put the Mets up 4-1. McNeil finished the day 1-for-3 as Tyrone Taylor entered in center for the bottom of the sixth.
Taylor notched a bases-loaded sac fly in his first at-bat, setting up Luis Torrens to snap a 0-for-11 stretch by rocketing a two-RBI single up the middle to make it a 7-1 ballgame.
– Francisco Lindor cracked a single to center to start the game. Making his first start since he sustained a broken toe, he stole second on the very next pitch, getting a huge jump and grabbing the base without a throw. He added a broken bat single in the third and, this time on the second pitch, stole second without a throw to give the heart of the order another chance with a runner in scoring position, but again was left stranded.
Lindor made it a three-hit night with a two-out single in the eighth and was lifted for pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña.
– Hard-luck dinged Pete Alonso his first time up when his 100.7 mph liner was right at the Rockies’ third baseman, stealing extra bases (.780 xBA) and an RBI. After starting 0-for-3 (all with RISP), striking and bouncing into a room service 6-4-3 double play, Alonso got another chance with runners on first and second and one out in the seventh and singled to left to load the bases. He finished the day 1-for-5.
– Juan Soto, coming off his first three-hit game with the Mets, went down looking at a curve, grounded out, and reached on a fielder’s choice his first three times up. He went 0-for-4 (0-for-3 with RISP) with a walk and two strikeouts.
– Baty got a stroke of good luck in his third at-bat as he looked to snap out of a 3-for-21 funk with an infield hit that deflected off the pitcher’s glove.
The hit put two on and nobody out, and Colorado went to the bullpen and lefty Ryan Rolison. The Mets countered with Starling Marte (batting for Young), but the pinch-hitter bounced into a 5-4-3 double play and Mauricio grounded out to short.
Baty finished the day 1-for-4, Marte 0-for-2.
– Out of the bullpen: José Butto struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh and erased a leadoff single with a 5-4-3 double play in a clean eighth, tossing 26 pitches (16 strikes). Left-hander José Castillo added a strikeout in an easy-peasy ninth.
Game MVP: Clay Holmes
Holmes' Houdini Act was the key as it allowed the Mets' offense time to get going, as this was a 1-1 contest entering the top of the fifth inning. And it has been a year-long thing for the starter as he has now held opponents to a .120 average with RISP (6-for-50) after Colorado went hitless in eight chances and left eight on base.
His final line: 6.0 innings, one run, nine hits, no walks, six strikeouts on 95 pitches (71 strikes), lowering his ERA to 2.95.
Highlights
Francisco Lindor starts tonight off with a leadoff single and stolen base! pic.twitter.com/H2xo3ZiqcP
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 8, 2025
RONNY MAURICIO GOES DEEP!! pic.twitter.com/1VXrR42V1j
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 8, 2025
Jared Young puts the Mets back ahead with a solo homer! pic.twitter.com/TxqRxpL1xH
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 8, 2025
Jeff McNeil joins the home run party 🎉
Third homer of the night for the Mets! pic.twitter.com/9UdJvCWVjd
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 8, 2025
Luis Torrens drives in two more 🔥 pic.twitter.com/DzDhNwfjjK
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 8, 2025
Second RBI of the night for Brandon Nimmo! pic.twitter.com/MFOw1GpJ1H
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 8, 2025
What's next
The Mets go for the three-game sweep over the Rockies on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 3:10 p.m. EDT.
Right-hander Tylor Megill (3.77 ERA, x WHIP in y innings) makes his 13th start of the season. Megill will be looking to find the form of his first six outings of the year (1.74 ERA in 31 innings) and put his last half dozen outings behind him (5.97 ERA in 28.2 innings).
The hosts counter with right-hander Chase Dollander (6.26 ERA, 1.440 WHIP in 41.2 innings) for his 10th start of his debut season in the big leagues. He has pitched better of late (3.29 ERA over his last 13.2 innings), but lasted just 18 outs his last time start.
