Mets' Harrison Bader, Jose Iglesias homer twice, bullpen bends but doesn't break in win over Rockies
Jose Iglesias of the Mets celebrates his second-inning home run against the Rockies with teammate Luis Severino at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
This has been a soft slice of the schedule for the Mets, a chance to feast and continue on their upward trajectory that began after they crash-landed at 11 games south of .500.
They opened their final series before the All-Star break on Friday night against the team with the second-worst record in the National League and the third-worst record in the majors. The Colorado Rockies showed up at Citi Field 28 games under .500 at 33-61.
The bats and the starters’ arms served as the primary fuel supply in this surge that brought the Mets to the third and final NL wild-card spot heading into the game. And that fuel was there again against the Rockies in the Mets’ 7-6 win.
Harrison Bader and Jose Iglesias each pounded two of the Mets’ season-high five homers. Three of the five came in a resounding four-batter stretch in the second. Sean Manaea turned in seven innings of three-run, five-hit, nine-strikeout work.
The Mets then survived another shaky outing by their bullpen and held on for their fourth straight win and sixth in seven games.
They moved to 48-45, three games above .500 for the first time since they were 12-9 on April 21. They are tied for the second wild-card spot with St. Louis.
“I just know we’re a good team,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I’ve been saying that since Day 1.”
The Mets weren’t looking so good at 22-33 on May 29, but they’re on a 26-12 distance run since then. They’re 8-4 in this stretch of 18 straight against losing teams to start the month.
“It’s just a hungry group on all sides of the ball,” Bader said.
The five homers came from the No. 6 (Mark Vientos), No. 7 (Iglesias) and No. 9 (Bader) hitters in the order.
“This is a deep lineup,” Mendoza said. “It’s one through nine a tough at-bat.”
Manaea, meanwhile, is up to 6-3 with a 3.46 ERA. He’s 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA in his last four starts.
“For him to go seven, that tells you he’s in a good spot not only physically but mentally,” said Mendoza, who was ejected for arguing in the seventh after Iglesias was called out on strikes.
But the bullpen almost tossed this win away. Manaea handed off a 7-3 lead. Then Jake Diekman yielded a solo homer by Charlie Blackmon and Phil Maton gave up a two-run shot by Brenton Doyle in the eighth.
That made it a combined count of nine homers, the most in a game by two teams this season.
That meant the trumpets had to play for the ninth. Edwin Diaz came on to try to protect the 7-6 edge.
The closer allowed a two-out walk to Sam Hilliard, who stole second. Diaz then walked Blackmon before getting Ezequiel Tovar swinging to nail down his 10th save in 15 chances.
“Diaz, they made him work,” Mendoza said.
Michael Toglia swept Manaea’s sweeper over the leftfield fence for a two-run homer in the second, giving the Rockies a 2-0 lead, but the Mets struck back in a high and far way in the bottom half against rookie righty Tanner Gordon (0-2).
Vientos launched a one-out fastball over the fence in left-center — 2-1.
Two pitches later, Iglesias launched a slider over the fence in left — 2-2.
One out later, Bader launched a fastball over the fence in left-center — 3-2 Mets, just like that.
Gordon, making his second major-league start and appearance, served up another run in the third on Vientos’ double.
Then Bader parked a slider in the leftfield seats for a two-run homer in the fourth and his first multihomer game since 2019. The Mets were up 6-2.
“Production anywhere is great,” Bader said, “but obviously having it at the bottom of your lineup is pretty cool with the extension of that.”
Iglesias opened the fifth with his second homer, a drive to left off Peter Lambert, making it a five-run game and giving him his first multihomer game in the majors.
Manaea allowed a solo shot by Brendan Rodgers to open the seventh, then retired the next three and walked off to a loud ovation from the 28,852 announced in the house.
“These fans have been [there] through thick and thin the whole year,” Manaea said. “To have something like that really for the first time was an unbelievable experience and something I’ll definitely remember.”
Notes & quotes: The Mets placed lefty David Peterson on the paternity list and recalled righty reliever Eric Orze from Syracuse . . . Righty reliever Sean Reid-Foley (right shoulder impingement) played catch Thursday and is scheduled for a bullpen session Saturday. Mendoza said Reid-Foley is “trending in the right direction.”
