The New York Mets ended Thursday in a playoff spot. On Friday, they’ll get a reminder of just how far they’ve come in the last six weeks.
The Mets will look to remain perfect on their six-game homestand Friday night when they host the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series. Left-hander Sean Manaea (5-3, 3.43 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Rockies rookie right-hander Tanner Gordon (0-1, 7.11). The Mets completed a sweep of the visiting Washington Nationals on Thursday afternoon as David Peterson combined with four relievers on a six-hitter in a 7-0 win. The Rockies missed a chance to earn a split of their four-game series Thursday when they fell to the host Cincinnati Reds 8-1.
The sweep of the Nationals continued a lengthy resurgence for the Mets, who were 22-33 through May 29 — the third-worst record in the National League and just two games ahead of the Rockies and three games ahead of the Miami Marlins. But New York has gone an NL-best 25-12 since May 30 to climb two games over .500 for the first time since April 24 and into the third NL wild-card spot, a percentage point ahead of the San Diego Padres. With one win against the Rockies, the Mets will clinch a winning record entering the All-Star break.
We put in a lot of work to get back to this point because we dug ourselves a bit of a hole,” said Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth inning Thursday with a three-run double and is hitting .302 with nine homers and 33 RBIs since May 30. “We believe we’re a good team. We don’t believe this is a fluke.” A Mets-like comeback appears unlikely for the Rockies, who have gone an NL-worst 13-26 since May 30 and are on pace to lose 100 games for a second straight season. Colorado won three straight against the contending Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals from July 4-6 but has dropped four of its last five by a combined margin of 41-14. The Rockies have been out-homered 13-6 in their last five games and have surrendered four three-run homers — including Tyler Stephenson’s shot to open the scoring in the third inning Thursday.
