Bullpen fails again as Rockies beat Mets

The Mets needed a pick-me-up in the worst way after their disappointing series against the Nationals. Instead, they were left pondering how they let another one get away, all thanks to their shaky bullpen.

Bobby Parnell's errant throw home on a fielder's choice let the Rockies score the go-ahead run in the eighth inning. Troy Tulowitzki followed with a frozen-rope, two-run homer to left, the decisive blow to the gut in a 7-6 loss to Colorado Monday night at Citi Field.

Parnell's gaffe was the most critical in a night full of them for the Mets, who have lost five of their last six. Reliever Ryota Igarashi also airmailed a throw home that opened the door for Colorado to tie it at 4 in the sixth, and leftfielder Willie Harris lost a ball in the lights in the third, leading to a run.

"Outside of the home run, we pretty much put them in every situation they did to have to score,'' manager Terry Collins said. "We lost the ball in the lights and threw the ball away at home a couple of times. And you can't do that, which we did."

Parnell's awful eighth put the finishing touches on an extremely disappointing night by the bullpen, which was supposed to improve after the flurry of moves made Sunday. But Igarashi, one of those call-ups, allowed the tying runs with the Mets leading 4-2 in the sixth, spoiling a decent bounce-back start from Mike Pelfrey.

Still, the Mets were in it until Parnell blew up. After Dexter Fowler led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and took third on a wild pitch, Parnell had a legit shot at getting Fowler at the plate on a comebacker. But his throw sailed high over Josh Thole's head, paving the way for a three-run inning.

"I just know he's a fast runner and I've got to get rid of the ball," Parnell said. "You want to make sure you get one out. I didn't do it. I tried to get rid of it as fast as I could. I just got under it and threw it to the backstop."

David Wright homered off Rafael Betancourt in the eighth before Carlos Beltran doubled and Ike Davis singled him home to make it 7-6. But the Mets couldn't scrape together enough to pull off a comeback.

Pelfrey gave up four runs (three earned) and six hits, walked four and struck out three in 51/3 innings. He gave way to Igarashi with runners on first and third. Igarashi's failure to make a good throw to Thole with the bases loaded prevented a 1-2-3 double play. That opened the door for Carlos Gonzalez's broken-bat two-out single that drove in two and tied it at 4.

"I wasn't able to grip the ball properly," Igarashi said through a translator, "and yes, I was kind of rushing the situation . . . I just didn't get the job done."

No one seemingly has of late for the Mets, who are going in the wrong direction.

"We had some opportunities to win those games and we were not able to close them down," Jose Reyes said. "So we need to figure it out and start to close down some games because it's not going to get it done. It's a long season. We know that. But we have to start to win these games."