NEW YORK — Like a character in a TV crime drama, the Rockies’ offense arrived in Gotham this weekend, only to disappear “Without a Trace.”
“We just aren’t getting anybody on base or getting anything going right now,” Clint Barmes said. “We aren’t hitting balls hard or finding holes. It seems like all of our swings have resulted in pop-ups or weak-hit groundballs.”
The scoreboard at Shea Stadium confirmed that Saturday.
In the Rockies’ ledger were nine innings worth of zeroes and a lonely “1” in the hit column after starter Pedro Martinez and a quartet of Mets relievers shut out the Rockies 3-0. Saturday marked the 14th time in club history that the Rockies were limited to one hit.
The Mets became the first major-league team in modern baseball history (since 1900) to allow three hits or less in five consecutive games.
“You have to give their staff credit,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “They are throwing strikes, working ahead in counts and throwing good secondary pitches.”
For the streaking Mets, it was their eighth victory in a row. For the sliding Rockies, a team hoping to get some traction before the all-star break, it was their third straight loss and fourth in five games.
Friday, in a 2-1 loss to the Mets, the Rockies managed just three hits — two by Brad Hawpe, including a solo home run. Saturday, the Rockies’ only hit was Hawpe’s single in the fourth inning off Martinez. The three-time Cy Young Award winner left the game after the fourth because of tightness in his groin and right shoulder.
Before the game, Hurdle was asked about the state of his banged-up Rockies, a team struggling to stay in the hunt in the weak National League West.
“We are treading water right now,” Hurdle said. “We’ve had our fair share of adversity and we are trying to battle through it. We are trying to dig it out of the dirt right now, to put it plain and simple.”
The one positive Saturday was the continuing development of Ubaldo Jimenez. Consistently slinging his fastball at 96 to 98 mph, the right-hander allowed three runs and seven hits, walked four and struck out eight in six innings. Matched against Martinez, his boyhood hero, Jimenez pitched well enough to keep the Rockies in the game.
“I had a lot of adrenaline because of Pedro and it was my first time pitching in New York,” Jimenez said. “I can’t be happy because we didn’t win, but I think I pitched good.”
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, combining Carlos Beltran’s double with an RBI single from Fernando Tatis.
At that point, the Mets threatened to blow the game open, loading the bases with two out. But Jimenez cranked up the heat, striking out pinch hitter Nick Evans with a 98-mph fastball.
Jose Reyes greeted Jimenez with a 420-foot homer to left to open the fifth inning — Jimenez said his sinker simply didn’t sink — and the Mets pushed across another run in the sixth on Brian Schneider’s run-scoring double that ate up Rockies first baseman Jeff Baker.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
TODAY: Rockies at N.Y. Mets, 6:05 p.m., ESPN
The Rockies, hoping to enter the all-star break on a positive note, turn to 34-year-old lefty Mark Redman (2-4. 7.07 ERA) tonight at Shea Stadium. With a fastball rarely getting out of the low- to mid-80s, Redman relies on guile and location to keep batters off-balance. He failed to do that in his last start, a 7-3 loss for the Rockies in Milwaukee. Redman surrendered four runs and six hits, including a homer, in five innings. In seven career starts vs. the Mets, Redman is 1-4 with a 4.64 ERA. The Mets will start right-hander Mike Pelfrey (7-6, 3.93). He stymied the Rockies on June 22 at Coors Field, allowing just three hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings in New York’s 3-1 victory. The Mets are 7-1 in Pelfrey’s last eight starts. Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Monday:
All-star break
Tuesday:
All-Star Game
Wednesday:
All-star break
Thursday:
Pirates’ TBA vs. Rockies’ TBA, 7:05 p.m., FSN
