Mets Finally Won a Road Series and Now They're Hunting in Denver

The New York Mets needed a win. They needed a series. After starting the season 10-21, they got one, and now they're trying to ride that momentum straight into Colorado to take down the reeling Rockies in a three-game set beginning Monday.

New York grabbed two of three from the Los Angeles Angels to secure its first road series victory since early April when they beat the San Francisco Giants in a four-game set. It's not much, but for a team that's been struggling out of the gates, it's exactly what the doctor ordered.

The Bats Are Finally Waking Up

Mark Vientos delivered the goods on Sunday with a pair of two-run home runs in a 5-1 victory. That's the kind of clutch hitting the Mets desperately need. The numbers tell the story: New York has scored just 118 runs so far, second fewest in all of baseball. Only the Giants, with 106, are worse.

"That's our goal, to start winning series," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "That's what it's going to take for us to get to where we want to be. One series at a time, one game at a time."

Vientos isn't thinking past today. "I think that's the name of the game, putting yesterday in the past," he said. "We have to focus on the right now."

Peterson Gets the Ball in His Hometown

The Mets plan to use an opener Monday before David Peterson takes over. The left-hander has been rough, sitting at 0-4 with a 6.53 ERA. He hasn't made it past four innings in any of his last three starts. On Wednesday against Washington, Peterson gave up seven runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings during a 14-2 loss.

Here's the weird part: Peterson is facing his hometown team for the fifth time, and in the first four matchups he's gone 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA. The 30-year-old Denver native will look to recapture that magic.

Colorado's in Free Fall

The Rockies have dropped five of their last six games since they swept the Mets back on April 24-26. Over the weekend against Atlanta, Colorado's pitching staff imploded, allowing 28 runs across a three-game sweep. They need a stopper badly.

Colorado is turning to offseason addition Tomoyuki Sugano in the series opener, which got moved up three hours due to bad weather. Sugano is 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA and threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his last outing, striking out two in a 13-2 win over Cincinnati on Wednesday.

"He set the tone, kept them off-balanced, relied on his offspeed pitches," Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. "He was really good, efficient, just like he's been all year."

Sugano faced the Mets once last year with Baltimore, giving up three runs in six frames in a 7-3 win on July 10. The 36-year-old right-hander went 10-10 with a 4.64 ERA in 30 starts for the Orioles last season as a rookie before signing with Colorado in February.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.