DENVER (Interstat) — Jake McCarthy crushed a grand slam in the eighth inning, lifting the Colorado Rockies to a 6-2 victory over the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon at Coors Field.

McCarthy finished 2-for-4 with a home run and five runs batted in, providing the decisive blow in a game that had been knotted at 2-2 since the sixth inning. The Rockies, now 15-23, took two of three in the series after dropping the opener Wednesday. The Mets fell to 14-23.

Colorado starter Jose Quintana worked five and two-thirds innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts. He departed with the score tied after six. Antonio Senzatela (2-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief, permitting one hit while striking out two.

Mets right-hander Christian Scott turned in a polished outing over four and two-thirds innings, yielding one earned run on three hits and striking out six. He left with the Mets leading 2-1 in the fifth, but the bullpen could not preserve the edge. Craig Kimbrel (0-2) took the loss after allowing four runs in the eighth without recording an out.

The Mets seized a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Austin Slater led off with a single to right, and Marcus Semien drew a walk after a replay review confirmed an initial call. Andy Ibáñez lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Slater. Two batters later, Tyrone Taylor lined a single to left that brought home Semien, but Taylor was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double, ending the inning.

New York had an opportunity to add to its lead in the third when Juan Soto tripled on a fly ball that eluded second baseman Edouard Julien. Bo Bichette walked, but Mark Vientos grounded into a double play to extinguish the threat.

Colorado got on the board in the fourth. Tyler Freeman reached on a bunt single, moved to second on a flyout and advanced to third on a walk to Troy Johnston. Willi Castro lined a single to right, scoring Freeman and sending Johnston to third. McCarthy then struck out to end the inning, leaving the Rockies trailing 2-1.

The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the sixth. Scott had departed after 87 pitches, and reliever Huascar Brazobán entered. Brazobán recorded a flyout and a strikeout around a walk to TJ Rumfield. Willi Castro then walked to put runners at first and second. McCarthy stepped in and laced a double to center, scoring Rumfield and sending Castro to third. The game was tied, 2-2. Brazobán was replaced by Austin Warren, who walked Kyle Karros to load the bases before striking out Brett Sullivan to escape further damage.

Warren retired the Rockies in order in the seventh, keeping the score knotted.

The Mets could not reclaim the lead in the top of the eighth. Closer Juan Mejia and left-hander Brennan Bernardino combined to retire the side on three flyouts.

The decisive rally began in the bottom of the eighth. Kimbrel entered to start the inning. He faced nine batters and recorded none of the three outs. TJ Rumfield singled to center. Troy Johnston followed with a single to right. Willi Castro walked to load the bases. McCarthy then hammered a 1-1 pitch over the right-field wall for a grand slam, his second home run of the season and his second in as many days. The blast, reviewed and upheld by the umpires, cleared the bases and gave Colorado a 6-2 lead.

Kimbrel was removed after the home run. Reliever Austin Warren returned to record three straight strikeouts to end the inning, but the damage was done.

The Mets attempted a rally in the ninth. Marcus Semien walked, and Carson Benge singled to left. But Juan Mejia, who had already worked a scoreless eighth, returned for the ninth and struck out Francisco Alvarez and MJ Melendez around a walk? — actually, Alvarez struck out, then Melendez struck out, and Vidal Bruján popped out to shortstop to end the game.

Mejia earned his first hold of the season with one and two-thirds scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.

McCarthy’s performance continued a hot stretch. He had homered and driven in two runs in Wednesday’s loss to the Mets, and he went 1-for-3 on May 3 against Atlanta. Thursday’s five-RBI game matched his career high.

The Rockies used four pitchers in total. Quintana worked five and two-thirds innings. Senzatela handled the sixth and seventh. Bernardino faced one batter in the eighth, and Mejia closed out the final two innings.

The Mets employed five pitchers. Scott made the start. Brazobán pitched one inning. Warren worked one and one-third scoreless innings. Kimbrel recorded zero outs. Austin Warren then returned for the final out of the eighth, and the Mets did not use another reliever in the ninth.

Defensively, the Mets turned a double play in the seventh when Vidal Bruján, Marcus Semien and Mark Vientos combined to erase Mickey Moniak and Tyler Freeman.

The game lasted 2 hours, 49 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 13,378.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of New York Mets 4, Colorado Rockies 3. Interstat’s ELO system projected the Mets with a 63.60 percent probability to win. New York was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total of eight runs went over the over-under line of 11.