Tatis hits eighth-inning grand slam, sending Mets to much-needed 7-3 win over Rockies

Tatis had pinch-hit slam to lift Mets over Rockies

NEW YORK — Fernando Tatis hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning, and the New York Mets salvaged an otherwise miserable day by rallying for a 7-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

It was the third straight win for the Mets, who have been struggling most of the season on the field and had to deal with issues off it when they fired vice president Tony Bernazard during an awkward news conference hours before the first pitch.

The Rockies bullpen had gone 9 2-3 innings without allowing a hit before Tatis connected off Franklin Morales with one out in the eighth. Juan Rincon (2-2) had loaded the bases by issuing walks to Luis Castillo and David Wright, then putting Jeff Francoeur aboard intentionally, before Tatis deposited an 0-2 pitch into the seats in left field.

The pinch-hit slam was the first for the Mets since May 30, 2000.

Brian Stokes and Pedro Feliciano (3-3) pitched three innings of shutout ball for New York, and All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez worked a perfect ninth

Troy Tulowitzki hit a two-run homer and Clint Barmes also went deep for the Rockies, who lead the NL wild-card race and had won seven of their first 10 games since the break.

The day got off to a rocky start for the Mets when GM Omar Minaya called a mid-afternoon news conference to announce the firing of Bernazard, the club’s vice president of player development.

Bernazard was dismissed after a series of high-profile incidents, including a heated argument with All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez, challenging players at Double-A Binghamton to a fight, and berating a team employee over a seating mix-up.

Minaya’s news conference then took a bizarre turn when he questioned the motives of beat writer Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News, who had reported on the recent turmoil and who Minaya said had lobbied him for a job. Rubin called the allegation “deplorable” and said he had merely asked Minaya and Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon for career advice.

Things only got worse when Oliver Perez put a runner aboard in the second and Tulowitzki belted a pitch about 420 feet into the center-field stands.

Francoeur got one of the runs back with his homer in the fourth, his eighth of the season and third since joining the Mets in a trade with Atlanta.

Barmes added a solo shot for Colorado in the fifth, but Perez kept the damage from getting any worse by stranding five runners over the course of two innings. The mercurial starter needed 103 pitches just to get through five, but left with the score still 3-1.

The Mets quickly tied it on David Murphy’s RBI single and Cory Sullivan’s sacrifice fly.

Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez wound up allowing three runs and six hits in seven innings in his third consecutive strong start against New York.

NOTES: A hard downpour about 90 minutes before the game delayed the first pitch by 16 minutes. … Mets SS Alex Cora slammed into the rolled up tarp near the third-base line while chasing a foul ball in the eighth inning. He came up limping but stayed in the game. … Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former New York Islanders star Mike Bossy were on hand for the game.