NEW YORK— It’s not exactly “Rocktober in July,” but the Rockies are turning themselves into a contender. They are looking like they could be somebody.
Fueled by another stellar start — this time from veteran left-hander Jorge De La Rosa, who notched his 100th career victory — the Rockies stepped right up and beat the Mets 7-2 at Citi Field on Saturday night. It was Colorado’s fifth consecutive victory, and its ninth win in 10 games. In those 10 games, Rockies starters have a 2.06 ERA.
Since the all-star break, the Rockies have streaked to a 12-4 record and improved to 52-52, the first time they have been at .500 since May 21. They are four games out of the second National League wild-card spot.
“The next thing in our sights is we have to chase down that wild card and if we do that, then we chase down the division,” said Rockies manager Walt Weiss. “That’s how we are thinking right now. Guys have really responded coming out of the (all-star) break. We talked about playing every game like it’s Game 7, coming out of the break, and that’s what they are doing.”
The Rockies received another home run from rookie outfielder David Dahl, his second in his first six games, and chased veteran Mets right-hander Bartolo Colon from the mound after five innings. Dahl said it was one of his better hits.
“Yeah, I think so. I just got a ball across the plate and I put one of my better swings on it,” he said. “I was trying to hit the ball hard up the middle.
“I just came in to try and help the team win, be myself and go out and have fun.”
But the good feelings and pitching accolades were tempered by an injury to star rookie shortstop Trevor Story. He left the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a jammed left thumb. The good news was that X-rays were negative. Story was escorted off the field by Weiss and head trainer Keith Dugger after he unsuccessfully dived for Justin Ruggiano’s one-out groundball single. He was replaced by Cristhian Adames.
“There is nothing broken,” Dugger said of Story’s injury. “He’s going to be sore tomorrow and we will see if it balloons up. He’ll rest tomorrow and then we have an off day on Monday, so we will see if he’s good to go on Tuesday.”
Story, who has set the National League record for home runs by a rookie shortstop with 27, originally jammed the thumb sliding into second base in the top of the fourth. On an infield single, he tried to take second on an errant throw from Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera but was thrown out by first baseman Kelly Johnson.
De La Rosa started off on shaky ground, giving up a run in the first on Wilmer Flores’ RBI single, and a run in the second on Johnson’s run-scoring single. But he settled in and finished with six solid innings under his belt, having allowed two runs on six hits. Of his 100 career victories, 85 have come with the Rockies.
“It feels good. I’m proud of it,” De La Rosa said of picking up his 100th win. “The beginning of my career wasn’t easy, but as soon as I got here I had really good coaches. They helped me turn my career around. And I pitched good enough to get 100 wins.”
De La Rosa’s performance was the 55th quality start by a Rockies pitcher this season. That’s a huge leap forward, considering they had 54 all of last season. Colorado has 19 quality starts this month, tying the franchise record for the most in a month. The Rockies also posted 19 in June 2009, the last year they qualified for the postseason.
The Rockies, now 6-0 against the Mets this season, took the lead for good with a three-run fourth inning. Story’s RBI single drove in Nolan Arenado and Dahl’s two-run homer to right-center scored Carlos Gonzalez.
DJ LeMahieu’s two-run single in the fifth brought out the Bronx cheers from angry Mets fans in Queens. LeMahieu finished the evening with three RBIs.
The Rockies will go for a rare four-game sweep Sunday when they throw right-hander Chad Bettis against Noah Syndergaard, the Mets’ ace righty.