CHARLES O’BRIEN
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The Colorado Rockies spent three days at Citi Field and wasted plenty of good pitching.
Rafael Montero earned his first career win, Eric Young Jr. went 3 for 3 with an RBI triple and the suddenly surging New York Mets beat Colorado 2-0 Wednesday night for their fourth consecutive victory.
New York finished a three-game sweep of the last-place Rockies, winning the final two by identical scores behind Montero and fellow rookie Jacob deGrom. It marked the first time the Mets had thrown consecutive shutouts since June 29-30, 2012.
Colorado was outscored 7-2 in the series and has lost six straight games at Citi Field.
“Not a lot of margin for error, especially when we struggle to score runs,” manager Walt Weiss said. “We pitched very well this series and Tyler (Matzek) threw the ball very well again tonight. You score two runs in three games and you’re not going to win.”
Matzek gave up two runs on four hits and four walks in 6 1-3 innings. He entered with a 21-inning scoreless streak.
“I battled the whole time,” Matzek said. “I never really got control of the fastball and so I had to rely on my secondary pitches. My changeup was so-so and I had to rely heavily on the slider.”
Montero (1-3) returned from the minors and allowed three hits over 5 1-3 innings in his seventh big league start. This is his third stint with New York this season.
Dilson Herrera scored twice and Juan Lagares had a sacrifice fly for the Mets, who have won seven of eight.
Montero did not give up a hit until Matzek’s fifth-inning double. He struck out seven and walked two, throwing 106 pitches in his first major league start since Aug. 17.
New York remained 5 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh for the second NL wild card.
Herrera worked a two-out walk against Matzek (5-10) in the second. Young followed with a drive to right-center that just glanced off the glove of center fielder Drew Stubbs.
The triple was Young’s fourth of the season and his first extra-base hit — and RBI — since Aug. 24. His three hits matched a season high.
Young’s father is the first base coach for the Rockies.
“I was just excited to finally get to play in front of him and then to have that type of game,” Young said. “I’m sure that’s something we’ll be talking about in the offseason.”
The Rockies threatened in the sixth after a leadoff double by Stubbs and a single by Justin Morneau put runners at second and third. Montero struck out Nolan Arenado on a high fastball, the last batter he faced.
Dario Alvarez retired Chris Dickerson on a dribbler in front of the plate, and Carlos Torres induced a popup to shortstop from Michael McKenry.
Torres gave up a hit in the seventh, Jeurys Familia worked the eighth and Jenrry Mejia rebounded from a shaky outing Tuesday to finish the four-hitter.
“It’s tough,” Arenado said. “You have Familia, who is one of the nastier pitchers in the game — if you don’t take advantage of pitches, you’re going to get two strikes and you start to get yourself in trouble. Then you have Mejia, who’s got a good slider, and they just pitched better than us and we couldn’t get the hits today.”
Mejia’s perfect ninth gave him his 25th save in 28 opportunities.
New York added a run in the seventh after Herrera drew his second walk from Matzek and went to second on Young’s single. Pinch-hitter Josh Satin walked, and Herrera scored on Lagares’ fly to left.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: OF Michael Cuddyer was rested by Weiss after playing in back-to-back games following his activation from the disabled list. Cuddyer was placed on the 15-day DL with a left hamstring strain on Aug. 24.
CAVE MAN
Rockies OF Charlie Blackmon spent time at the MLB Fan Cave on Wednesday and took “selfies” with New York City fans.
“I enjoyed it and I think the people I bumped into enjoyed it,” he said. “I think it’s cool when fans can see what a player is like away from the field, see what their personality is like and see that they’re actually relatable and that they’re not that different from many of the fans out there.”
Blackmon then took the No. 7 subway train to Citi Field.
“I enjoyed that,” he added. “I feel real New Yorkey. I feel like a real city-dweller when I do that.”
UP NEXT
Rockies: After a day off Thursday, Colorado begins a three-game series Friday at first-place St. Louis. LHP Jorge De La Rosa (13-10, 4.27 ERA) faces Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright (17-9, 2.62). De La Rosa is 6-3 with a 4.71 ERA in 15 appearances (nine starts) against the Cardinals.
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