NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Canha hit two clutch doubles and Pete Alonso singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the New York Mets a 7-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
Brett Baty launched his second major league homer and Starling Marte had a two-run triple for the NL East leaders, who have won the first two games of the four-game series.
Canha put the Mets ahead 4-3 with an RBI double in the sixth. Elias Díaz laced a three-run double that gave Colorado a 6-4 advantage in the eighth, but Canha tied it with a two-run double in the bottom half.
“Everybody has that ability. Whether you can tap into it is another thing,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of his club’s resilience. “When momentum changes, we talk about it all the time and they talk about it all the time — just stay in the moment.”
Brandon Nimmo worked a one-out walk in the ninth against Rockies closer Daniel Bard (3-4), who hit Marte with the next pitch. After Francisco Lindor lined out to a diving Sam Hilliard in shallow left field, Alonso fell behind 0-2 before grounding a single between third base and shortstop to score Nimmo.
“It’s a privilege to be put in those situations,” Alonso said. “We had a ton of great at-bats prior to mine and I thought we did just an unbelievable job as an offense, grinding and battling.”
Edwin Díaz (3-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
The last-place Rockies dropped to 18-41 on the road. They have a winning record (36-32) at Coors Field.
“That was an emotional rollercoaster for both sides. That was a tough one,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “We thought we were in position with a couple of our better pitchers out there, but the Mets had some good at-bats.”
New York starter Chris Bassitt carried a one-run lead into the eighth, but was pulled with one out after Charlie Blackmon reached on an infield single. Mychal Givens gave up a single to C.J. Cron and walked José Iglesias to load the bases.
After Randal Grichuk struck out, Elias Díaz doubled to center field to give the Rockies their first lead.
Colorado reliever Carlos Estevez struck out the first two batters he faced in the eighth before giving up a short-lived lead. Darin Ruf reached on an error by third baseman Ryan McMahon, and Jeff McNeil followed with a single. Canha doubled down the left-field line to tie the score at 6. Both runs were unearned.
Canha is batting .412 with 10 extra-base hits in his last 11 games.
“I think I’m swinging the bat really well and I’m just playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Canha said.
Baty, who had family in attendance for the second straight night, led off the third by driving Chad Kuhl’s first-pitch sinker into the Mets’ bullpen in right-center.
“I was just looking for a heater and got one over the plate and did some damage with it,” the rookie said.
Canha scored on Marte’s two-run triple that made it 3-0 in the fifth.
Brendan Rodgers hit a two-run double off the top of the center-field wall for Colorado in the sixth. Rodgers scored on Cron’s single, tying it 3-all.
Bassitt allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk in 7 1/3 innings.
Kuhl was charged with three runs and five hits in five innings.
REMEMBER WHEN
The Mets will celebrate their first Old-Timers’ Day since 1994 on Saturday. Many of the ex-Mets planning to participate were in attendance Friday night, drawing loud cheers from the crowd of 32,447 when they were shown on the large video board.
ONE TOUGH KID
One of the former Mets at Citi Field was ex-third baseman Howard Johnson.
Johnson’s grandson, Tanner, threw out a ceremonial first pitch with his grandfather serving as catcher. The 3-year-old suffered a tragic accident last year when his father, Glen, accidentally ran over his left foot with a lawnmower, resulting in the youngster losing all five toes.
DOG DAYS
McNeil is batting a major league-leading .411 (39 for 95) in August.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: RHP Alex Colomé (elbow) threw his third side session and is “really close” to returning, according to Black. There are no plans for Colomé to make a rehab assignment.
Mets: RHP Tommy Hunter (lower back tightness) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list. To make room, C Michael Pérez was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. … 3B Eduardo Escobar (left oblique) continued a rehab assignment with High A Brooklyn and went 0 for 3 as the designated hitter, facing a left-handed pitcher. If the switch-hitter felt good after his at-bats, Showalter intimated Escobar could return Saturday. … LHP Joey Lucchesi (Tommy John surgery) threw a scoreless inning Thursday for Class A St. Lucie, striking out two.
UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Kyle Freeland (7-8, 4.93 ERA) pitches Saturday night. Freeland has a 1.93 ERA in three career games (two starts) at Citi Field.
Mets: LHP David Peterson (6-3, 3.44) goes for New York.
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