The Mets continue to express confidence that Juan Soto will start to produce like the generational hitter he is. Friday night at Citi Field, he repaid some of that confidence with a two-hit game to help the Mets defeat the Colorado Rockies, 4-2.
An RBI double and leadoff single might not be much, but the Mets will take it.
The subject of much speculation and consternation over the last month, Soto went 2-for-4 to snap an 0-for-16 streak. The right-fielder scored Francisco Lindor with a double off left-hander Kyle Freeland in the third inning to put the Mets up 2-1, and lined a single to center off Freeland again in the sixth.
There was also a fantastic catch in right field to end the top of the seventh inning with Soto tracking down a tailing fly from Ezequiel Tovar ball to make a catch over his shoulder on the run. This came shortly after Sam Hilliard pinch-hit a home run off right-hander Huascar Brazobán to pull the Rockies to within one.
But it was Lindor who won the game for the Mets with two homers. Lindor took Freeland deep to left field to lead off the first inning, then hit one off Seth Halvorsen to start the eighth for his 11th of the season. The Mets tend to win when he hits balls over the fence, including the last 25 straight games where he’s gone deep.
Even more impressive, he homered from both sides of the plate.
It gave the Mets new life at a crucial point in the game when the energy around the stadium was beginning to wane. Even after Soto hit into a double play, the Citi Field crowd remained on its feet in anticipation of Edwin Diaz and his famed trumpet entrance.
Diaz made quick work of Colorado to secure the series-opening win for the Mets (35-22) and convert the save (12).
David Peterson, who grew up in the Denver area and still resides there in the offseason, pitched into the sixth inning before running out of gas. The left-hander tossed five scoreless frames and got the first two outs in the top of the sixth, but he hit Thairo Estrada with a pitch to extend it. Unable to close it out, Brenton Doyle then singled to left and Ryan McMahon hit a double to right to score Estrada.
Brazobán got the final out to end the threat.
Peterson (4-2) limited Colorado to one run on five hits, walked one and struck out five over 5 2/3 innings. The Mets are now 7-0 at Citi Field this season when Peterson pitches.
Freeland took his eighth loss of the season (0-8) for the cellar-dwelling Rockies (9-48), but it was a valiant effort. Another Denver native who grew up watching the Rockies like Peterson, Freeland scattered three runs over six innings, striking out four.
