Rockies weather snow removal, Mets

DENVER -- After enduring a lengthy wait Tuesday while snow was removed from Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies had to survive an onslaught by David Wright of the New York Mets.

Wright hit his first two homers of the season and drove in three runs, but the Rockies beat the Mets 8-4 in the first game of a split doubleheader for their fourth straight victory.

Colorado erupted for three runs in the fifth inning, a go-ahead rally highlighted by Todd Helton's two-out, two-run single and made possible by starting pitcher Dillon Gee's wildness.

The start of the game was delayed 2 hours, 2 minutes as an all-hands-on-deck crew that included Rockies owner Dick Monfort and several members of the front office shoveled the remnants of Monday's eight-inch snowfall that had been plowed along the right-field line. It took seven hours for the snow, which caused Monday's game to be postponed, to be cleared from the field.

It was 39 degrees -- with 100 percent humidity -- at 3:12 p.m. MT when the game began, matching the 10th-coldest start for a Rockies home game. The coldest is 28 degrees.

"It's not weather that's conducive to baseball," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "You just got to grit your teeth and find a way."

Helton, 39, said, "I used to love these games when I was younger. Not so much anymore."

The announced attendance was 21,510, representing tickets sold. But there were no more than a couple thousand people in the stands.

Both starters struggled with their control -- Juan Nicasio of the Rockies from the outset and Gee in a fateful fifth. Nicasio threw 97 pitches in five innings, including 35 in the first and just 19 strikes. He left after giving up six hits and four runs and the Rockies trailing 4-2 but ended up the winning pitcher thanks to the Rockies' fifth-inning rally.

"After the first inning," Weiss said, "we were hoping he could get us through the fifth and piece it together from there. And that's what we able to do."

Edgmer Escalona, Wilton Lopez and Rafael Betancourt combined to hold the Mets scoreless the final four innings.

The Rockies have gone 115 consecutive games dating from June 13 without having a starter throw 100 pitches.

Gee's control deserted him in the fifth, which he failed to finish while allowing three runs. Coming off a three-inning start, the shortest of his career on April 9, Gee forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk to Michael Cuddyer. It was his second walk of the inning and came after Gee hit Troy Tulowitzki on the left elbow with a pitch.

Helton followed by sharply grounding a two-run single up the middle, putting the Rockies ahead 5-4 and driving Gee from the game. The hit gave Helton six RBI in his past four games and came after he grounded to shortstop and flied to left on his first two at-bats.

"I' wasn't trying to do too much in that situation," Helton said, referring to his at-bat in the fifth with the bases loaded. "I would like to have hit a line drive, but my prior two at-bats dictated that I couldn't let it fly. My swing dictated that I just got to put a nice easy swing and try to get something."

Gee said, "That's pretty much what I wanted to do, get a ground ball. It's just going that way right now. I get a lot of ground balls that sneak under gloves and next to gloves. It seems like every time they had a ground ball it found its way through. That's kind of how it's going right now."

That hit finished Gee. Brandon Lyon replaced him and got the final out in the fifth but gave up a leadoff double to Chris Nelson in the sixth. Nelson moved to third on Edgmer Escalona's sacrifice and scored on Eric Young Jr.'s single.

Young also tripled home a run in the eighth, and Jonathan Herrera followed with a single.

Nicasio issued the first of his two walks to Daniel Murphy with one out in the first, and Wright followed by lining a home run into the Rockies bullpen in right-center field on a 2-and-1 fastball.

Wilin Rosario singled home a run with one out in the second, showing discipline on a 2-and-1 slider from Gee and poking the pitch to right field rather than trying to pull it.

Carlos Gonzalez, who tripled on his first at-bat, tied the score at 2 with a homer in the third, lining a 1-and-1 changeup into the second deck in right center. It was Gonzalez's fourth homer of the season.

Wright's second homer came with one out in the fifth when he lined a first-pitch fastball from Nicasio over the fence in straightaway center to put the Mets ahead 4-2. Wright had not hit a home run in his first 41 at-bats this season, a streak that stood a good chance of ending at Coors Field. Wright, who also singled in the eighth, has thrived there, hitting .398 (45 for 113) with 10 homers and 36 RBI.

NOTES: Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler did not play. Weiss said his left foot was "a little tender," the result of fouling a ball off the foot Sunday at San Diego. Fowler underwent an X-ray on Monday that was negative. ... Tulowitzki did not start the second game because of a sore elbow, the result of getting hit with Gee's pitch. ... Wright's two homers gave him the 19th multi-homer game of his career. ... Mets catcher John Buck had two hits, giving him five multi-hit games this season and raising his average to .333 (15 for 45). ... Gonzalez's triple was the 26th of his career and his 18th at Coors Field..Young tied his career high with three hits. He has done it 10 times, the last on Aug. 14 against Milwaukee. Gonzalez also matched his career high with two RBI. He has had seven such games; the last was also Aug. 14 against the Brewers.