Jose Iglesias and Harrison Bader each hit two homers Friday night for the host New York Mets, who staved off a comeback attempt by the Colorado Rockies to earn a 7-6 win in the opener of a three-game series.
Mark Vientos also went deep for the Mets, who have won the first four games of a six-game homestand to assure themselves a winning record at the All-Star break. New York (48-45) is three games over .500 for the first time since it was 12-9 on April 21.
The Rockies have lost five of six.
Colorado’s Michael Toglia hit a two-run homer in the second off Sean Manaea (6-3) before Vientos, Iglesias and Bader all hit solo shots in the bottom of the inning against rookie Tanner Gordon (0-2).
Vientos laced an RBI double in the third, and Bader hit a two-run homer in the fourth before Iglesias led off the fifth with his second blast for a 7-2 lead.
The two-homer game was the first of Iglesias’ 12-year career and the second of Bader’s eight-year career. He homered twice for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 15, 2019.
Brendan Rodgers hit a solo homer off Manaea in the seventh before Charlie Blackmon led off the eighth by going deep against Jake Diekman. Later in the eighth, Brenton Doyle hit a two-run, two-out shot into the upper deck in left off Phil Maton for his seventh homer in 11 games this month.
Maton struck out Rodgers to end the eighth. Edwin Diaz issued two walks in the ninth before whiffing Ezequiel Tovar to record his 10th save.
Manaea gave up three runs on five hits and one walk while striking out nine over seven innings. He has gone seven innings twice in his past three starts after never lasting more than six innings in any of his first 15 starts this year.
Gordon, making his second career start, allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three over three-plus innings.
–Field Level Media
