DENVER — Thin air and even thinner pitching is quite the combustible mixture.
If only the Mets had answers awaiting them back at sea level, but it’s not so easy for this underperforming bunch. Francisco Alvarez’s mighty rookie bat will only help take this team so far if there aren’t vibrant arms to prevent the opposition from scoring.
Ten runs weren’t enough on Sunday, a day after seven didn’t suffice. Tylor Megill and Stephen Nogosek got battered, sending the Mets to an 11-10 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field.
The Mets dropped the series by losing their second straight and finished with four losses in six games on the road trip.
A week ago the Mets were humming, finishing a homestand with five straight victories that elicited visions of a surge in the NL East standings.
The Mets have since regressed and reached the exact one-third mark of the season at 27-27.
“Our pitching is going to get better,” Brandon Nimmo said. “I have all the faith in the world in those guys — that is something I don’t question. If our hitting keeps doing what it’s doing and we keep having consistent at-bats, the pitching is going to come around. It’s going to be fine.”
Megill became the second straight Mets starter, joining Justin Verlander the previous night, to struggle. Megill was knocked out after four innings in which he allowed six runs (two unearned on his own error) on 10 hits and two walks over four innings.
It followed a performance against the Cubs in which Megill allowed six runs (two unearned) over 3 ²/₃ innings.
“The mistake you make is getting down on pitchers after pitching here,” manager Buck Showalter said, referring to Coors Field. “It’s a tough place to pitch. It’s tough for everybody. The challenge for us is to stay positive with the guys that struggled here.”
Megill, covering first base, dropped Pete Alonso’s throw in the third inning, allowing Charlie Blackmon to reach.
The error helped the Rockies score two unearned runs on consecutive two-out singles from Randal Grichuk and Harold Castro that followed a walk to Ryan McMahon.
The Mets jumped on lefty Austin Gomber in the fourth and scored six runs — sending nine batters to the plate. Alvarez’s second three-run homer in as many games gave his team a 6-2 lead after the Mets had scrapped for three runs in the inning.
Alonso doubled leading off the inning and Starling Marte walked with one out before Tommy Pham stroked a two-run double to tie the game.
Pham stole third and Mark Canha walked before Eduardo Escobar delivered an RBI single to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.
After Nimmo struck out, Alvarez hit a towering fly inside the left-field foul pole for his eighth homer of the season.
But Megill flushed that lead in the bottom of the inning. After getting two quick outs, the right-hander loaded the bases on singles by Blackmon and Jurickson Profar and a walk to Kris Bryant.
The ensuing batter, McMahon, hit a shot to left-center that just eluded Marte’s outstretched glove and went for a bases-clearing double that tied it 6-6.
Marte was starting his first game in center field since 2021 to give Nimmo a breather (he was inserted as the DH).
Showalter cited Marte’s strong throwing arm in spacious center field at Coors for his decision to start Marte at the position over Pham and Canha, both of whom had more recent playing time in center.
“[Marte] is our best option out there, all things considered, other than Nimmo,” Showalter said.
Nogosek got shelled in the fifth, allowing a two-run homer to Blackmon after Austin Wynns had delivered an RBI double.
McMahon concluded Nogosek’s pounding in the inning with a two-run homer that extended the Rockies’ lead to 11-6. The blast was the third in as many games in this series for McMahon.
“It sucks,” Nogosek said. “It’s brutal. This one really hurts, but you have got to move on and keep going.”
Francisco Lindor’s solo homer in the seventh pulled the Mets within 11-7.
The homer was Lindor’s ninth of the season and second in three games. Pham’s two-run triple in the ninth sliced the Rockies’ lead to 11-9.
Brett Baty’s RBI ground out brought in the final run.
“Good days ahead,” Showalter said. “They are competing their butt off and I am really proud of them. Giving up that many runs and different things it could have been very easy to pull sand in around them but we kept competing. We got the tying run to the plate again and I’m proud of them.”
