Sedona Red Recap: deGrom outduels Collmenter in Mets’ win over D-backs

Chicks dig the long ball.

Josh Collmenter does not — at least not when he’s on the mound.

The Arizona Diamondbacks starter allowed a career-high four home runs — three solo shots and a two-run homer — and is now winless in six consecutive starts.

The New York Mets won the series finale 6-3 in front of an announced crowd of 31,575 on Sunday to split the four-game set.

Curtis Granderson and Wilmer Flores both hit solo shots — Granderson did so twice — while Eric Campbell drove in a pair with a second-inning homer, as the first five runs the Mets scored came via the longball.

Though he did not homer, Juan Lagares joined the fun with two doubles, part of his three-hit effort.

Collmenter (3-6) worked six innings and saw his streak of three straight starts yielding three runs or fewer snapped. He has not won since May 6.

The D-backs, who finished the homestand 4-3, tagged Mets starter Jacob deGrom for two runs in the first, but then were shut out until Chris Owings’ RBI bunt single in the sixth inning.

DeGrom (7-4) won his fourth straight decision, limiting the D-backs to the three runs, two earned, on five hits in seven innings. He walked three and struck out 10.

The Mets improved to a majors-best 14-5 in day games.

The D-backs, meanwhile, failed in their bid to reach .500, and it’s been since April that they’ve been at the mark or higher.

THE GOOD

A double, single and RBI fielder’s choice brought the D-backs’ first run across home plate just three batters into the first inning. Ender Inciarte hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on A.J. Pollock’s single and then scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s ground ball to third base, which Campbell threw away trying to force Pollock out at second base. The Inciarte double, by the way, was the first extra-base hit allowed by deGrom in 33.1 straight innings, tied for the longest single-season streak in Mets history.

After striking out in each of his first two at-bats, Owings singled with one out in the sixth inning, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games. He laid down a beautiful bunt up the third base line, beating the throw from Campbell and scoring Goldschmidt for the D-backs’ third run of the game. Owings finished 1-for-4 and is now batting .302 (13-for-43) during his current run of success at the plate.

Goldschmidt, it should be mentioned, reached base with a single in the sixth, the first D-backs hit since Pollock’s double in the first. Goldschmidt went 1-for-3 with a walk — his 47th of the season — and is now batting .411 (14-for-34) with four doubles, four home runs, eight RBI and 14 walks in his last 10 games. That walk total reads 22 in 16 games since May 22.

Jogging in from the bullpen, David Hernandez arrived at a big league mound for the first time since Sept. 29, 2013. In his first appearance since Tommy John surgery on March 24, 2014, Hernandez pitched a scoreless eighth inning. After a walk to Lucas Duda, he got two fly ball outs, struck out Lagares and, upon his return to the dugout, high-fives from his teammates.

THE BAD

Four pitches into the game, the Mets had a 1-0 lead thanks to Granderson’s homer. He turned on a 75 mph changeup and deposited it two rows deep into the seats in right field. For Granderson, it was his third leadoff home run of the season and the 31st of his career. For Collmenter, it was his 10th home run surrendered, second-most on the team behind the 12 allowed by Rubby De La Rosa.

Correction: Make that 11 home runs Collmenter has seen leave the ballpark this season. With one out in the second inning, Collmenter’s 1-1 offering was drilled over the left field fence by Campbell, scoring Lagares who had doubled in the at-bat prior. The two-run shot, Campbell’s second of the year, put the Mets back in front 3-2.

And now Collmenter and De La Rosa are tied. It was Granderson again, this time to lead off the fifth inning. A 2-2 pitch landed in the right field seats, giving Granderson his 16th career multi-homer game with home run Nos. 7 and 8 on the season. Only one other time had Collmenter allowed three home runs in a game in his career — just last month, May 6 at Colorado.

OK, now it’s a career-worst outing, at least in terms of home runs allowed, for Collmenter. He gave up a third leadoff homer and the fourth of the game overall when Flores greeted a 2-2 cutter and blasted it to left field in the sixth inning, extending the Mets’ lead to 5-2. Flores, meanwhile, extended his hitting streak to eight games, tying a career high, with what was his eighth home run, tops among shortstops.

The D-backs struck out eight times in the first four innings. Owings and Jarrod Saltalamacchia were each fanned twice. During one stretch, deGrom retired five in a row via a strikeout. He finished with 10, the fourth straight start in which he’s struck out at least eight batters. It was also his second double-digit strikeout game this season and the sixth of his career.

STAT OF THE GAME

4: The number of home runs allowed by Collmenter, who took over the team lead with 13 — 12 of which have come in his last seven starts.

HE SAID IT

“Not very good,” Collmenter said. “Obviously, any time you’re giving up balls out of the park, you’re not doing a very good job. To give up a run and then they came back and got a couple for me, you got to try to keep the lead, and I just wasn’t able to do that. I just can’t pitch in the middle of the zone. All the home runs were probably balls over the plate. If I go back and look at them, I’m sure it’s pitches that they want to hit. I haven’t been doing a good job controlling counts and getting ahead and making them hit my pitch.”

NOTED

• Making his 75th career start, Collmenter moved past Trevor Cahill for sole possession of 10th place in club history.

• The one-out walk to Collmenter in the fifth inning was the first one issued in 27.2 innings, covering four starts, by deGrom.

• In his first start since coming off the disabled list, Jake Lamb went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and reaching base once on a fielder’s choice.

• With J.C. Ramirez pitching the ninth inning, the Mets stole four bases, including two by Campbell before scoring on Darrell Ceciliani’s pinch-hit RBI single.

• Prior to the game, Archie Bradley, who is on the 15-day DL with right shoulder tendinitis, played catch after three days of no throwing.

• Six-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Amy Van Dyken-Rouen threw out the ceremonial first pitch as part of Disabilities Awareness Day.

UP NEXT

A eight-game road trip with stops in Los Angeles and San Francisco and back in Los Angeles.

The first of three against the Dodgers will be played on Monday, June 8. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

De La Rosa and Mike Bolsinger, a one-time D-back, are the scheduled starters.

De La Rosa (2-2) is winless in his last four outings, though his team is 3-1; in fact, he’s helped lead the D-backs to five wins in his last six starts, going 2-0 with a 4.85 ERA.

De La Rosa will be making his second career start against the Dodgers, with whom he made his Major League debut on May 24, 2011.

Bolsinger, meanwhile, was a 15th-round draft pick of the D-backs in 2010.

Last season, his first in the majors, Bolsinger went 1-6 with a 5.50 ERA in 10 appearances, including nine starts. In November, D-backs designated him for assignment, and two days later traded him to the Dodgers for cash considerations.

Bolsinger (3-1) had a three-start winning streak in May, but since then has gone 0-1 in two starts, allowing a combined six runs in 11 innings pitched.

The D-backs were swept in their last visit to L.A. and are 2-4 against the Dodgers this season.