DENVER (AP) - Zack Wheeler had a hunch while warming up that he might have to work through some trouble at Coors Field.
He wound up dealing with quite a bit, all packed into the shortest outing of his career.
Wheeler allowed seven runs in four innings and the Colorado Rockies overwhelmed the Mets 10-3 on Friday night for their sixth win in seven games, including the first two in a four-game set against New York.
Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer, but it wasn’t nearly enough for the Mets.
“I had trouble in the bullpen, so I figured it would turn around in the game,” Wheeler said. “You do terrible in the bullpen, you do well in the game. It didn’t do that.”
He was concerned enough about his difficulties warming up that he told his catcher, Travis d’Arnaud.
“I know before the game started, he brought that to my attention,” d’Arnaud said. “I told him to stay within himself.”
However, the pregame problems carried over into the game, with Wheeler unable to hold the one-run lead the Mets handed him in the first inning. Colorado got to him for four runs in the bottom half to move in front.
“I honestly did not have a clue of what movement the ball was going to take,” Wheeler said. “All my balls were running and my two-seamer was cutting.”
The first five Colorado batters all reached via a hit or walk, with Troy Tulowitzki and Wilin Rosario producing RBI singles and Justin Morneau hitting a run-scoring double. Corey Dickerson drove in the fourth run with a sacrifice fly.
“I would have to say he got behind in some counts,” Mets manager Terry Collins said about Wheeler. “He probably had to throw strikes with his secondary pitches and left them in the middle of the plate.
“It was one of those nights if the ball was over the plate, it was something they could handle.”
Charlie Blackmon homered, Tulowitzki added three hits and three RBIs, and Nolan Arenado extended the majors’ longest hitting streak to 22 games with a single in the seventh.
The flashy third baseman, whose streak is tied for the third-longest in Rockies history, also made an eye-catching stop of Chris Young’s sharply hit grounder down the line in the eighth, finishing the play with an off-balance throw across the diamond.
Jorge De La Rosa (3-3) allowed three runs and eight hits, including the homer by Granderson in the sixth. The left-hander struck out four and walked three in winning his third straight since an 0-3 start.
Colorado pushed its lead to 6-1 on Tulowitzki’s two-run single in the second and made it 7-1 in the fourth on Blackmon’s RBI groundout.
Juan Lagares doubled to open the game, went to third on a single by Daniel Murphy and scored when a wild pitch by De La Rosa got past Rosario.
NOTES: Murphy was caught stealing in the first inning, ending a streak of 28 successful attempts. … Granderson has scored at least one run in five straight games. … Lagares extended his hitting streak to 11 games, one shy of his career high. … RHP Jenrry Mejia (3-0) is slated to start for New York on Saturday night against Rockies LHP Franklin Morales (3-1).
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