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Ryan Raburn's pinch homer pushes Colorado Rockies past New York Mets

By Jack Etkin, The Sports Xchange
New York Mets' Terry Collins. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
New York Mets' Terry Collins. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

DENVER -- The Colorado Rockies signed free agent Ryan Raburn late in the offseason, seeking a right-handed-hitting power threat for their bench.

Raburn delivered in a big way Sunday, belting a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the seventh inning that carried the Rockies to a 4-3, comeback win against the New York Mets and a sweep of the three-game series.

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Raburn connected against Jim Henderson (0-2), who came on to face him in relief of starter Jacob deGrom. He drove Henderson's 2-0 fastball for an opposite-field blast to right.

"I'm always on the fastball," said Raburn, who hit his sixth career pinch-hit homer and second this season, "but of course 2-0, I wasn't definitely trying to pull it by any means in case he throws a slider or something like that. He left one over the plate, and I was able to put the barrel on it and come through."

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Raburn's homer drove in DJ LeMahieu, who led off the inning with a 12-pitch walk against deGrom.

"Sometimes a rally can start real innocently like that," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "That was a nice snapshot of the game today. DJ worked a walk right there, and that's what I mean by making the opposing pitcher earn everything he gets."

LeMahieu fell behind 0-2 after two pitches. He fouled off seven pitches in the at-bat, including three of the last five.

"I ended up seeing it pretty good there at the end of the at-bat," LeMaieu said. "I laid off a couple tough ones. That was the inning we had to get him. If he got through that inning, it set up their bullpen pretty nice."

In his Coors Field debut, deGrom gave up three runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.

"I still don't feel very comfortable on the mound," deGrom said. "Front side still is not getting up where I want it to. I kept us in the ball game, that was my main goal to go out there. (It's) a pretty tough place to pitch."

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The win was a season-high fourth straight for the Rockies, enabling them to finish their homestand 4-2. The Mets, who have a lost a season-high four straight, were swept in a series for the first time this year and concluded an arduous 11-game trip with a 4-7 record.

"It was a long trip, a terrible finish to it," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "We'll pick up the pieces. We got a long, long, long way to go."

The Rockies had not scored a run ever against deGrom, a streak that lasted 16 innings, before LeMahieu singled home Carlos Gonzalez to tie the game 1-1 in the second. Gonzalez doubled to break an 0-for-13 slide and later homered on a day when he finally found his power stroke.

"I didn't watch the video, but it seemed like it was right down the middle," LeMahieu said of deGrom's second-inning pitch. "I think it was him making a mistake more than me doing anything. Just a fastball up."

New York's Yoenis Cespedes homered to lead off the second and open the scoring. The Mets tacked on two runs in the third off Tyler Chatwood (5-3) as deGrom singled home a run and scored on Michael Conforto's single.

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Gonzalez worked the count to 3-1 on deGrom and drew a walk in the fourth, a sign to Weiss that Gonzalez's pitch recognition was better. In the sixth, Gonzalez drove deGrom's first pitch over the wall in center for his fifth homer.

Gonzalez had gone 24 games without a homer for the first time since 2012, and his latest drought covered 99 at-bats. The homer also snapped Gonzalez's streak of 17 games without an RBI, the longest of his career.

"It's been a rough stretch, but it's part of the game," Gonzalez said. "Sometimes hitting is going to look so hard. Sometimes you're going to make it look easy. But in tough moments, you just got to continue to stay positive. I'm going to get at it. I always believe in myself."

Chatwood didn't have his best stuff, but he gave the Rockies seven innings on a day when their bullpen was a bit thin. Rookie Carlos Estevez was unavailable, so Weiss turned to Boone Logan to work the entire eighth.

Logan gave up a one-out double to pinch hitter Juan Lagares and intentionally walked Cespedes. Lucas Duda hit a slow grounder to third baseman Nolan Arenado, who unsuccessfully tried to tag Lagares before throwing Duda out. It ended up a double play when Lagares was called for running outside the baseline.

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Jake McGee tossed a scoreless ninth inning for his 12th save.

NOTES: Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon went 0-for-3 to end his 11-game hitting streak, one shy of his career high. ... Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa (strained left groin) threw 92 pitches, 53 strikes, in 3 2/3 innings Saturday night for Triple-A Albuquerque in his second rehab start. The Rockies will decide whether De La Rosa needs at least one more rehab start before returning to the rotation. ... Mets 3B David Wright and RF Curtis Granderson were given a rest. Wright pinch-hit and grounded into a game-ending forceout ... Mets LHP Steven Matz, who reported elbow soreness after his last start May 9, will see a doctor Monday. If Matz is cleared, he could throw off a mound Tuesday and, barring a setback, start Thursday's series finale against the Washington Nationals.

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