Infielder Ronny Mauricio could be worth the wait for the New York Mets, who will aim for a sweep of their three-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon in Denver.
Mauricio hit one of three homers for New York in its 8-1 win over the Rockies on Saturday. The Mets won for the seventh time in their last nine games and moved a season-high 17 games above .500.
Mauricio, 24, earned a promotion from Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday after missing all of last season with a torn ACL. He hit a mammoth 456-foot blast and singled in Saturday’s win.
“Pretty impressive,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I think he went on the third deck; it’s the first time I’ve seen somebody go over there. We know the power’s real, we know the impact (he can have).
“But at the same time, we’ve got to be patient with him. This is a guy who missed a whole year of development. It’s really good to see him now do some of the things that we know he’s capable of. It was a great night for him, great night for the whole offense.”
Colorado went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Saturday and lost its second straight game following a three-game winning streak.
The Rockies are 12-52, which ties the 1932 Boston Red Sox for the worst 64-game start in baseball’s modern era (since 1901).
Ryan McMahon briefly tied Saturday’s game when he began the fourth inning with his seventh home run of the season and first since May 11. The homer was the 131st of his career, enabling him to pass Matt Holliday for the 11th-most in franchise history.
Colorado fell to 6-24 at Coors Field, which is the worst home record in the majors and its worst start through 30 home games in franchise history.
Sunday’s pitching matchup will feature a pair of right-handers as the Mets’ Tylor Megill (4-4, 3.77 ERA) faces the Rockies’ Chase Dollander (2-5, 6.26).
Megill, 29, allowed four runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Tuesday. He settled in after giving up four runs in the first inning and retired 16 of the final 17 Dodgers he faced while throwing 105 pitches in his outing. The Mets lost 6-5 in 10 innings.
Orlando Arcia is 2-for-11 against Megill, who is 0-1 with a 7.27 ERA in two career starts versus Colorado.
Dollander returned after missing two weeks with forearm tightness and gave up two runs over three innings against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday in a game the Rockies won 3-2.
He has allowed two or fewer runs in five of his nine starts in his rookie campaign.
“He’s developing nicely,” Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said of Dollander. “I can’t say enough about Chase Dollander, the way he takes care of himself, his thought process, the way he talks about the game after it happens, and sees where he went wrong and what went right.”
Dollander, 23, is set to make his first career appearance against the Mets.
Schaeffer made the decision to use Dollander on Sunday in place of the originally scheduled starter, Carson Palmquist, who pitched 4 2/3 innings against the Mets last Sunday.
“We just played the Mets last week, and I just want them to see a couple different pitchers,” Schaeffer said.
New York has won its last seven meetings against the Rockies, including all five this season.
–Field Level Media
