The Mets are supposed to be in a brief cakewalk portion of their schedule with the Colorado Rockies between the Yankees earlier this week and next week’s visit by the Dodgers.
The last-place team in the NL West gave the Mets all they could handle on Friday night at Citi Field.
But Mark Canha’s two-run, game-tying double in the eighth and Pete Alonso’s two-out, walk-off single in the ninth gave the Mets a thrilling 7-6 victory before 32,446 on Old-Timers’ Day eve.
With one out in the ninth, Rockies reliever Daniel Bard walked Brandon Nimmo on four pitches. With his next pitch, Bard hit Starling Marte to move the winning run to second.
Francisco Lindor then lined what looked like a sure hit to left, but Sam Hilliard raced in and caught it with a dive for the second out.
Alonso fell behind 0-and-2 before grounding the game-ending single to left.
Canha, who was painfully hit by a pitch in the fifth and gave the Mets a short-lived lead with an RBI single in the sixth, tied the game with a two-out, two-run double in the eighth. The runs were unearned because of a two-out error by Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon.
The Mets had just fallen behind 6-4 in the top of the eighth on Elias Diaz’s two-out, three-run double off Mychal Givens.
The Mets were leading 4-3 when manager Buck Showalter removed starter Chris Bassitt after a one-out infield single by Charlie Blackmon. Bassitt had thrown 88 pitches.
Givens, general manager Billy Eppler’s lone bullpen acquisition at the trade deadline, allowed a single to C.J. Cron and hit Jose Iglesias with a pitch to load the bases.
Givens recovered to strike out Randal Grichuk for the second out and was 2-and-2 on Diaz before the Rockies’ catcher nailed a 96-mile per hour fastball into the right-centerfield gap to clear the bases and give Colorado a 6-4 lead.
The eighth wasn’t Colorado’s first comeback of the night. The Mets were leading 3-0 going into the sixth on the strength of Brett Baty's third-inning solo homer and Marte’s two-out, two-run triple in the fifth.
Bassitt was throwing a four-hit shutout when things went haywire in the sixth. Bassitt gave up a single to No. 9 hitter Wynton Bernard, threw a wild pitch, walked McMahon on four pitches, gave up a two-run double to Brendan Rodgers that was nearly a three-run homer (it hit off the very top of the right-center-field fence) and allowed a tying RBI single to Cron.
Bassitt also hit a batter later in the inning. Every other inning, he was pretty much in control. Double plays in the first and fourth helped him avoid trouble.
Pinch hitter Darrin Ruf earned a one-out walk in the sixth against left-hander Lucas Gilbreath, who came in after Colorado starter Chad Kuhl allowed three runs in five innings.
Jeff McNeil grounded a single to center before Canha launched a double high off the left-center-field wall. Ruf scored, but McNeil was thrown out at the plate, and the Mets had a 4-3 lead.
With Eduardo Escobar close to returning from the injured list, Baty made a good case to stay in the majors with a home run to right-center on the first pitch of the third inning. Baty’s second home run was the Mets’ first hit against Kuhl and gave Bassitt a 1-0 lead.
Escobar went 0 for 3 as the designated hitter for High-A Brooklyn on Friday night.
Escobar, who is on the injured list with a left oblique strain, played seven innings at shortstop for Brooklyn on Thursday and went 2 for 4 with an RBI. He could be activated as soon as Saturday.
“Played well at shortstop,” Showalter said before Friday’s game. “Hit two or three balls on the button. He felt good physically. We talked to him after the game and the decision with the left-handed starter — that was the last bridge to cross — tonight he’s going to DH there to get some right-handed at-bats. If that goes well, we’ll probably make a decision on what we want to do tomorrow.”
