DENVER -- Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon noted that the difference between a chance to win and an absolute lemon -- like Saturday night’s 8-1 loss to the Mets -- can be the right swing at the right time.
McMahon gave the Rockies their only run on a leadoff home run in the fourth off Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes.
But his soft lineout to second base in the first inning, when the Rockies squandered two on and no outs, and his groundout to second to end the fifth with runners at second and third stuck with him as the kind of struggles that leave a team 12-52, tied with the 1932 Red Sox for the worst 64-game start since 1900.
The Rockies went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, with many of those at-bats early when the Rockies had a chance to turn it into a high-scoring game both ways. Friday night, the Rockies went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and fell to the Mets, 4-2.
“This one got away from us, man,” McMahon said. “We had our chances. I left four guys on base. And then it just got away from us tonight.”
McMahon went 2-for-4 to continue the halting recovery from a career-worst 0-for-35 slump in April. The poor start and rough recent road trip -- 5-for-34 on a three-city trip -- have left his season batting average at .207.
Since ending his slump in San Francisco on May 1, McMahon has batted .261 (30-for-115) with five of his seven home runs. Saturday’s homer – which put him ahead of Matt Holliday and into 11th place in homers in club history with 131 – snapped a 22-game homerless streak. Saturday also was his first multi-hit game since May 20.
It’s not a hot streak, but McMahon feels more sound.
“I’m just trying to make sure I’m putting balls in play, not getting too big and just ending the at-bat when it needs to be ended,” McMahon said.
McMahon has gone 3-for-8 the two last nights against the Mets and has four more games this homestand to try to take advantage of being home before embarking on a seven-game road trip to Atlanta and Washington.
“It’s not like it’s being at Coors -- it’s just being in your home ballpark,” McMahon said. “You know how you’re supposed to feel in the cage. You know how you’re supposed to feel in BP and things like that. When you’re bouncing around, going place to place, you don’t exactly know how to line up, things like that. That can bug you, so it’s nice to come home.”
Defeat margins like Saturday’s have become less frequent. Before Saturday, 10 of the club’s previous 11 games -- including their wins during a three-game sweep of the Marlins -- had been decided by two runs or one run. Interim manager Warren Schaeffer said “one game is not going to change the way we prepare, the way that we go about our business.”
McMahon sees the energy, although results are lacking.
“Both sides of the baseball, they’re all doing a really good job,” McMahon said. “I love Schaeff, the energy he brings and how he goes about his business.”