DENVER _ The leads at Coors Field are as flimsy as the wind, and on Wednesday night the New York Mets blew two of them in the brutal ballpark. Seth Lugo had his shortest start of the season and the Mets could not hold off the Rockies, who rallied for a 10-8 victory.
The Mets dropped their second straight and the 14th in their last 18 games. The Rockies clinched the season series 5-1, but the Mets can tie this four-game series that concludes with a matinee game on Thursday.
Lugo had allowed five runs in 15 innings as a starter over his three previous starts. The right-hander allowed six runs (three earned) in just three innings, but two were especially stressful. He had the bases loaded in the second and third, but only gave up a solo homer in the first. It was the shortest of his four starts this season.
The Mets gave Lugo a 3-0 lead before he even threw a pitch when Michael Conforto singled in Asdrubal Cabrera and Devin Mesoraco drove in Conforto and Dom Smith with a double.
After Nolan Arenado's solo homer in the bottom of the first put Colorado on the board, the Mets made it 4-1 on Todd Frazier's RBI single but couldn't hold the lead.
The Rockies scored three in the bottom of the second with the help of Frazier's error and RBI singles by Gerardo Parra and DJ LeMahieu. Rockies righty Chad Bettis helped himself by plating a run with a ground-out RBI.
The Rockies took the lead in the third, scoring two on RBI singles from Parra and Tom Murphy.
The Mets rallied for four in the fifth with a Wilmer Flores sacrifice fly, a Brandon Nimmo bases-loaded walk and Cabrera's two-run single.
Robert Gsellman gave up a three-run homer to pinch-hitter Ryan McMahon in the fifth and Anthony Swarzak gave up a solo shot in the sixth.
The Mets had plenty of chances in the game but left the bases loaded three times.
