Chase Dollander leads Rockies to doubleheader, series sweeps of Mets

Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post on Apr 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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Start spreading the news: the Colorado Rockies are no longer pushovers. They proved it in the Big Apple by sweeping a three-game series from the scuffling New York Mets.

Colorado (13-16) completed the job by taking both games of Sunday’s doubleheader at Citi Field, beating the Mets, 3-1, in Game 1, and blanking the Mets, 3-0, in Game 2 behind a gritty seven-inning performance by starter Chase Dollander.

“This team doesn’t quit … this team is special,” Dollander told reporters in New York. “We have a chance to do something special. So keep an eye out for us. It’s going to be fun.”

The pressure was on Dollander to keep the Rockies rolling. Michael Lorenzen and Jose Quintana were both excellent in the first two victories over the Mets. All told, the three starters combined to pitch 19 1/3 innings and post an 0.93 ERA.

“That was huge, especially where we are with our (taxed) bullpen,” manager Warren Schaeffer told reporters. “We needed it, and the boys stepped up. That’s the thing about this team. When certain guys are down, or certain areas of the team are down, other guys are picking them up. That’s a good sign.”

The Rockies swept the Mets for the first time since May 4-6, 2018. More pertinently, they captured their third series of this season. That’s an illustration of how much better they are now compared to their dismal 2025 season. En route to 119 losses, Colorado did not win its third series until July 18-20 vs. the Minnesota Twins.

In Sunday’s Game 2, Troy Johnston smacked an RBI single to score Tyler Freeman to get Colorado on the board in the second. Hunter Goodman’s two-run home run off right-hander Kodai Senga in the third. Goodman’s seventh homer put the Rockies ahead 3-0.

That’s all they needed because Dollander dominated: seven strikeouts, five hits and two walks as he reduced his ERA to chintzy 2.55. He gutted it out on a day when he didn’t have his best stuff and frequently got behind in counts.

Asked what was working, Dollander replied, “If you had asked me that in the fourth inning, I would have said nothing. But I think both fastballs were working — when I commanded them — and the slider was on another level. I just kept attacking and concentrated on pitching in the strike zone.”

Dollander got his first official start of the season, as opposed to entering the game in the second inning after Colorado used an opener. Schaeffer said he doesn’t see a difference.

“No change from what he’s been doing,” he said. “Whether you start him or bring him out of the ‘pen, he’s going to be the same guy. It was just the state of the bullpen. We used a lot of leverage relievers in the first game, so it just made sense to start him.”

In the first game of the afternoon, Quintana, the 37-year-old lefty, gave Colorado 5 1/3 superb innings. He was backed up by another shutdown performance from the bullpen and timely hits.

Boos rained down on the Mets from the fans in Queens after they lost for the 15th time in their last 17 games and have been outscored 87-39 during that span.

Quintana found himself in deep trouble in the first inning when the Mets packed the bases on walks by Bo Bichette and Luis Robert Jr., followed by a single by Mark Vientos. But Quintana struck out Marcus Semien and Brett Baty to escape the jam unscathed.

New York's only run off Quintana came in the fifth on a leadoff home run by Tyrone Taylor.

Johnston's bases-loaded single scored Edouard Julien in the fourth off Mets ace Nolan McLean, and his base-loaded double-play grounder scored Julien again in the sixth. Colorado scored its third run in the seventh on a leadoff double by Brett Sullivan and a one-out RBI single by Jake McCarthy.

Juan Mejia, Jaden Hill and Victor Vodnik combined to pitch 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Vodnik rebounded from his painful blown save in Colorado's 10-8 loss to the Padres on Thursday to pitch a perfect ninth and claim his fourth save.

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