QUEENS, NY — Michael Toglia hit three solo home runs to pace a Colorado Rockies power surge on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field that featured six round-trippers in an 8-5 victory over the New York Mets.
Toglia became the first Rockies switch-hitter ever to hit three home runs in a single game. He was also the first Rockie since Charlie Blackmon in 2016 to have a three-homer game on the road away from the hitter-friendly Coors Field.
Mets starter Jose Quintana gave up a career-high four of those Rockies home runs with Toglia accounting for half of them across 5.2 innings of work. Ezequiel Tovar, who went 3-for-4 with four RBI and a double, had two of his own with one coming off Quintana and the other off reliever Adrian Houser.
“He left pitches over the plate,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Quintana’s rough outing. “They were aggressive on the two-seamer and fastball. He had eight strikeouts, curveball was good, but every time he left pitches up in the zone, they made him pay for it.”
The result snaps a five-game winning streak for the Mets (49-46), who sat at a season-best four games over .500 while holding the third and final NL Wild Card spot entering Sunday’s first-half finale.
Staked to a 3-2 lead after the Mets plated a trio of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Quintana yielded three homers across the fifth and sixth innings which included two lead-off round-trippers and two of Toglia’s blasts. Houser oversaw the completion of a poor pitching day in Queens, allowing three runs and two homers in two innings of work.
Quintana and the Mets’ home-run trouble started from the jump as Tovar, the second batter of the game, launched a 431-foot home run — his 13th of the season — into the second deck of the left-field stands to give the Rockies a quick 2-0 lead.
The Mets fought back to take the lead in the fourth while continuing to take advantage of their opposition’s mistakes. Francisco Alvarez reached base to lead off the inning after Rockies starter German Marquez failed to touch first while covering on a groundout.
Pete Alonso followed with his 19th home run of the year — a 403-foot laser into the left-field seats to tie things up at two. It was the Home Run Derby participant’s first home run since July 2.
The Mets loaded the bases with just one out, but would only scratch one more run across when Francisco Lindor drew a walk after Harrison Bader popped up to shortstop.
While Quintana rebounded after the rocky start by retiring 12 of the next 13 batters he faced with six strikeouts, he gave up the lead instantly, allowing a lead-off solo home run to Toglia in the fifth. It all came undone for the Mets’ veteran southpaw in the sixth when Brenton Doyle left the yard dead-center to give the visitors the lead. Three batters later, Toglia lifted his second of the afternoon just beyond the left-field fence to double Colorado’s advantage.
“Guys were attacking the first pitch,” Quintana said. “I think that was the only thing. I expect to limit the damage after the fifth inning, so it was frustrating to give up homers like that.”
Houser, who had allowed four runs in his last two outings (3.1 innings pitched), walked Blackmon to lead off the seventh before Tovar snuck a towering shot just inside the left-field foul pole. Toglia lifted his third of the day to left-center off Houser in the eighth to give the Rockies a five-run lead.
“We’re facing some good teams with good hitters,” Mendoza said. “During the summer, the ball is going to travel and when you’re leaving balls [up]… they’re hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Sometimes it comes down to you wanting to get ahead and you get ambushed… But I’m not worried.”
The Mets scratched two across in the eighth with a Jeff McNeil RBI double and a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Brandon Nimmo. But with two men on and Alvarez representing the tying run, the New York catcher lined out deep to center to end the threat.
With two men on again in the bottom of the ninth and with two outs, pinch-hitter JD Martinez struck out.
