Mets blank Rockies in rubber game win

Taijuan Walker and the Mets’ bullpen did not allow a run at Coors Field.

Pitching at Coors Field isn’t easy, but you wouldn’t have known that if you watched the Mets’ series finale there on Sunday afternoon. Four of the team’s pitchers combined to shut the Rockies out, something that hadn’t happened to that team in its home ballpark in 86 games.

Taijuan Walker did the bulk of the work in accomplishing that feat, spinning seven scoreless innings at altitude, but he was backed up by sharp defense and a couple of innings of good work by the bullpen. Adam Ottavino was one of the three relievers who appeared in those innings, and though he issued two walks, he managed to escape without allowing a run in part because of his very big strikeout of C.J. Cron and in part because Joely Rodríguez helped finish the eighth by retiring the only hitter he faced. Edwin Díaz notched the final three outs, and he looked like his excellent 2022 self in the process.

And swell as shutting out the Rockies in Denver is, you can’t win a baseball game without scoring a run. Through five innings, the Mets failed to do that against Austin Gomber, a lefty who threw eight scoreless innings against the Mets just a couple days shy of one year ago.

But with Brandon Nimmo on third and one out in the top of the sixth, Francisco Lindor singled to plate the Mets’ first run. Later in the inning, Lindor scored on a Pete Alonso ground out.

That was more than enough given the Mets’ top notch run prevention performance. The team won the game and the series, and it heads to San Francisco, where it will begin a three-game series at 9:45 PM EDT on Monday night.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Taijuan Walker, +48.8% WPA
Big Mets loser: J.D. Davis, -13.4% WPA
Mets pitchers: +71.5% WPA
Mets hitters: -21.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: José Iglesias grounds into a double play in the seventh, +20.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: J.D. Davis grounds into a double play in the fifth, -10.1% WPA