The Mets lost to the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Monday night in the first game of a four-game series, as starter David Peterson allowed three runs on five hits over 6.0 IP.
Peterson let up two solo home runs in the second inning, as he now owns a 1-4 record on the season. After the game he spoke about the defense helping him out throughout the night, but offensively, the Mets batters struggled at the plate against Rockies lefty Austin Gomber,
“You know I mean it doesn’t feel good no matter how good you pitch when you lose,” Peterson said. “You obviously want to help the team win. The loss is what sucks, obviously a couple pitches that I’d like to have back. Other than that, defense played great, they went all out for me. Hitters are up there battling, gotta tip your hat to that guy, he pitched a great game.”
CF Johneshwy Fargas left the game prior to the fifth inning after suffering a left AC joint sprain from crashing into the outfield wall. The Mets currently have 16 players on the IL, but Peterson went on to say that the clubhouse has a ‘next man up’ mentality.
“Well I mean you’re trying to that every start, you’re trying to go as deep as you can in a game and give the team a chance to win,” Peterson said. “And no matter who goes down. We’ve got guys that have come up, guys that’ve made their debuts, they’ve gotten their first hits in the last week. They’ve really contributed, and it’s been good to see that depth that we have play out and be able to get some wins. For us, it’s next man up. And I think all the guys in that room would say that, is we got a guy that goes down, we got another guy that’s going to come in and fill that spot to the best of his ability.”
Manager Luis Rojas discussed the team’s battle with injuries and how they just keep pushing forward.
“I got to use the word challenging, yes, it’s challenging man,” Rojas said. “These things keep happening. And it’s happening a lot because I think the way we play, right, our guys play hard, they play up to one speed. But I think the group understands after it happens. Even though we react in the moment, saying like ‘oh not again’. I think we just get back into it.
“You guys saw the way we ended up playing there, just keep pushing it again. It’s tough, it’s challenging, yes. Losing another guy in the middle of the game there and having some moving parts. We ran out of players there. We gave pitchers heads up just incase something happens, coming in and even play a position if something happen and we tie the game and went into extras.”
Rojas went on to say the attitude of this team hasn’t changed and they are prepared to overcome adversity. He would reiterate the ‘next man up’ mentality, and mentioned that Fargas will undergo tests tomorrow on his shoulder to further evaluate his injury.
“As challenging as it is, I mean there’s challenges in different ways in this game and in life,” Rojas said. “I think we have the right attitude towards anything that comes our way, this is happening, this is real right now. But I think the attitude of the group hasn’t changed. We’re going to go to bed tonight and get some rest, and come back tomorrow and going to aim for a win again. Prepare the same way. Next man up for his position, if there’s somebody that’s coming because of an injury.”