Meltdown for Chatwood
METS 10, ROCKIES 5 Colorado falls apart after grabbing early 5-0 lead
If Wednesday night’s game was indeed a referendum on Tyler Chatwood’s status in the Rockies’ starting rotation, Chatwood is in deep trouble.
Handed a 5-0 lead, the veteran right-hander cracked in the fourth and fifth innings, and then imploded in the sixth in Colorado’s disjointed, disappointing 10-5 loss to the New York Mets at Coors Field.
Colorado (61-47) slipped a half game behind Arizona (61-46) for the top National League wildcard spot but still holds a 5½-game lead over slumping Milwaukee (56-53) for the second wild-card slot.
Chatwood, manager Bud Black has insisted all season, has topshelf stuff. What Chatwood lacks is consistency and an ability to fight through adversity. That scenario repeated itself Wednesday night.
The Mets’ six-run sixth lingered like a bad dream. New York sent 11 men to the plate and rapped out seven hits, including a three-run homer to right by Curtis Granderson off Chatwood. Scott Oberg relieved Chatwood at that point, but the Mets ripped Oberg for two runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning.
“He had three great innings for sure, pumping strikes, a good fastball-slider combination and mixed in a couple of curveballs,” Black said of Chatwood. “From there, he got some balls up in the strike zone and they rolled some balls
through. The big blow was the Granderson home run.”
Asked about games getting out of Chatwood’s control, Black said: “Today, the third time through, they got on the fastball. As the game went on, the secondary pitchers weren’t coming into play and the fastball became a little vulnerable.”
Chatwood’s bottom line: He was charged with eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits in 5L innings. After 21 starts, Chatwood wears a 6-12 record with a 5.11 ERA. He’s 2-6 with a 6.75 ERA at home.
“I’m still trying to stay positive. I have a pretty good life and I have been a pretty good pitcher, for a while,” Chatwood said. “So you just have to roll with this and keep your eyes ahead. There are still two months of the season left.”
Colorado’s 5-0 lead deteriorated quickly. Two base hits and a solo homer by Jay Bruce put two runs in the Mets’ ledger in the fourth. Home-plate umpire Kerwin Danley left the game in the inning after getting hit in the hand by a bounced pitch from Chatwood. That resulted in a 13-minute delay and seemed to disrupt Chatwood’s momentum.
The fifth was messy. Granderson led off and reached second when first baseman Mark Reynolds misplayed his hot shot down the line. Amed Rosario followed up with a sizzler down the line that eluded third baseman Nolan Arenado, resulting in a ground-rule triple, thanks to a fan leaning over the wall and snatching the ball off the field. A 5-0 lead had shrunk to 5-3. Rosario scored to make it 5-4 on a groundout.
The evening began in grand fashion for the Rockies. Chatwood no-hit the Mets for three innings, benefiting from web gems from second baseman DJ LeMahieu and Trevor Story.
The Rockies put a five-spot up in the third, highlighted by a two-run homer by Carlos Gonzalez, his first home run since June 20, covering a span of 76 atbats. Gonzalez crushed starter Chris Flexen’s pitch to deep center field. Reynolds’ RBI single and a two-run double by Gerardo Parra accounted for the other runs.
“I had some good at-bats. I’m just trying to minimize things and hit the ball hard to the center of the field,” Gonzalez said. “I was able to drive the ball to center field on a breaking ball away, so that’s a good sign. Hopefully I can continue to get better and better as the season goes on.”