|
 Raburn delivered in a big way Sunday, belting a two-run, pinch-hit
homer in the seventh inning that carried the Rockies to a 4-3,
comeback win against the New York Mets and a sweep of the three-game
series.
Raburn connected against Jim Henderson (0-2), who came on to face
him in relief of starter Jacob deGrom. He drove Henderson's 2-0
fastball for an opposite-field blast to right.
"I'm always on the fastball," said Raburn, who hit his sixth career
pinch-hit homer and second this season, "but of course 2-0, I wasn't
definitely trying to pull it by any means in case he throws a slider
or something like that. He left one over the plate, and I was able
to put the barrel on it and come through."
Raburn's homer drove in DJ LeMahieu, who led off the inning with a
12-pitch walk against deGrom.
"Sometimes a rally can start real innocently like that," Rockies
manager Walt Weiss said. "That was a nice snapshot of the game
today. DJ worked a walk right there, and that's what I mean by
making the opposing pitcher earn everything he gets."
 LeMahieu fell behind 0-2 after two pitches. He fouled off seven
pitches in the at-bat, including three of the last five.
"I ended up seeing it pretty good there at the end of the at-bat,"
LeMaieu said. "I laid off a couple tough ones. That was the inning
we had to get him. If he got through that inning, it set up their
bullpen pretty nice."
In his Coors Field debut, deGrom gave up three runs on four hits in
6 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.
"I still don't feel very comfortable on the mound," deGrom said.
"Front side still is not getting up where I want it to. I kept us in
the ball game, that was my main goal to go out there. (It's) a
pretty tough place to pitch."
The win was a season-high fourth straight for the Rockies, enabling
them to finish their homestand 4-2. The Mets, who have a lost a
season-high four straight, were swept in a series for the first time
this year and concluded an arduous 11-game trip with a 4-7 record.
"It was a long trip, a terrible finish to it," Mets manager Terry
Collins said. "We'll pick up the pieces. We got a long, long, long
way to go."
The Rockies had not scored a run ever against deGrom, a streak that
lasted 16 innings, before LeMahieu singled home Carlos Gonzalez to
tie the game 1-1 in the second. Gonzalez doubled to break an
0-for-13 slide and later homered on a day when he finally found his
power stroke.
"I didn't watch the video, but it seemed like it was right down the
middle," LeMahieu said of deGrom's second-inning pitch. "I think it
was him making a mistake more than me doing anything. Just a
fastball up."
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New York's Yoenis Cespedes homered to lead off the second and open
the scoring. The Mets tacked on two runs in the third off Tyler
Chatwood (5-3) as deGrom singled home a run and scored on Michael
Conforto's single.
Gonzalez worked the count to 3-1 on deGrom and drew a walk in the
fourth, a sign to Weiss that Gonzalez's pitch recognition was
better. In the sixth, Gonzalez drove deGrom's first pitch over the
wall in center for his fifth homer.
Gonzalez had gone 24 games without a homer for the first time since
2012, and his latest drought covered 99 at-bats. The homer also
snapped Gonzalez's streak of 17 games without an RBI, the longest of
his career.
"It's been a rough stretch, but it's part of the game," Gonzalez
said. "Sometimes hitting is going to look so hard. Sometimes you're
going to make it look easy. But in tough moments, you just got to
continue to stay positive. I'm going to get at it. I always believe
in myself."
Chatwood didn't have his best stuff, but he gave the Rockies seven
innings on a day when their bullpen was a bit thin. Rookie Carlos
Estevez was unavailable, so Weiss turned to Boone Logan to work the
entire eighth.
Logan gave up a one-out double to pinch hitter Juan Lagares and
intentionally walked Cespedes. Lucas Duda hit a slow grounder to
third baseman Nolan Arenado, who unsuccessfully tried to tag Lagares
before throwing Duda out. It ended up a double play when Lagares was
called for running outside the baseline.
Jake McGee tossed a scoreless ninth inning for his 12th save.
NOTES: Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon went 0-for-3 to end his 11-game
hitting streak, one shy of his career high. ... Rockies LHP Jorge De
La Rosa (strained left groin) threw 92 pitches, 53 strikes, in 3 2/3
innings Saturday night for Triple-A Albuquerque in his second rehab
start. The Rockies will decide whether De La Rosa needs at least one
more rehab start before returning to the rotation. ... Mets 3B David
Wright and RF Curtis Granderson were given a rest. Wright pinch-hit
and grounded into a game-ending forceout ... Mets LHP Steven Matz,
who reported elbow soreness after his last start May 9, will see a
doctor Monday. If Matz is cleared, he could throw off a mound
Tuesday and, barring a setback, start Thursday's series finale
against the Washington Nationals.
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