NEW YORK (AP) — Chase Dollander held the Mets to five hits over seven innings in his first start this year, and the Colorado Rockies beat New York 3-0 in a doubleheader nightcap Sunday to complete a three-game sweep that sent the spiraling Mets to their 15th loss in 17 games.
Hunter Goodman hit a two-run homer that helped chase Kodai Senga in the third.
Colorado, which won Sunday's opener 3-1, swept a series from the Mets for the first time since 2018. The Rockies have two sweeps in their first nine series this season, also taking three games against Houston from April 6-8. They swept one of 52 series last year, three games at Miami from June 2-4.
New York, which has the major leagues' highest payroll, dropped to 9-19 and is 47-74 dating to mid-June last year. The Mets had just 10 hits in the doubleheader, were shut out for the fifth time and were dealt their fourth series sweep this season.
Many fans in the announced crowd of 38,155 left after the Rockies took a 3-0 lead in the third inning.
Dollander (3-2), who had pitched mostly in bulk relief following an opener, set career highs for innings and pitches (105) while striking out seven and walking two. Zach Agnos pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.
Troy Johnston, who homered in the opener, had an RBI single in the second and Goodman hit his seventh homer of the season in the third.
Pitching on eight days' rest, Senga (0-4) allowed three runs, three hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings as his ERA rose to 9.00. He has allowed five homers in 20 innings.
Carl Edwards Jr. pitched 3 1/3 hitless innings in his debut for the Mets, his ninth big league team.
Umpire Louie Krupa worked his first major league game behind the plate after making his debut Friday at second base. Only one of four ABS challenges was successful.
Rockies: Cincinnati RHP Chase Burns (2-1, 2.57) starts a series opener against visiting Colorado.
Mets: RHP Clay Holmes (2-2, 2.10) starts Tuesday’s series opener against Washington and RHP Zack Littell (0-3, 7.56), the Mets first game against an NL East rival.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Colorado Rockies' Hunter Goodman (15), center, gets a fur coat after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Colorado Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander throws during the first inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Colorado Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander throws during the third inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Payton Pritchard made six of Boston’s 24 3-pointers and scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum had 30 points and 11 assists to help the Boston Celtics spoil Joel Embiid’s return from an appendectomy and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 128-96 on Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Boston.
“It's going to have to be a big pick-up mentally,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said.
Jaylen Brown scored 20 points for the Celtics, who thumped the Sixers by 32 points for the second time in the series. The Celtics outrebounded the Sixers 51-30.
Embiid scored 26 points in 34 minutes just 17 days after having an appendectomy. Embiid wasted little time scoring in his first game since April 6. The two-time NBA scoring champion sank two free throws for the Sixers’ first points of the game, added a monster two-handed jam and scored the team’s first eight points.
Embiid withered after the fast start and missed seven straight shots before he converted a three-point play in the third quarter. That cut the Sixers' deficit to 23.
The Celtics hardly needed much production from Brown or Tatum — they combined for 50 points in a Game 3 win and only 13 in the first half of Game 4 — and used a whopping 14-rebound edge in the first half that sparked a 13-0 shutout in second-chance points to build a 21-point lead.
All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey took a backseat to Embiid and took only three shots in the first half. He scored 22 points for the Sixers.
“That can't happen," Maxey said of the slow start. “That's on me. That's just unacceptable by me. I was playing within the flow of the game. It kind of happened that way. It wasn't meant to happen that way.”
Maxey and the Sixers largely tried to get Embiid rolling early.
Embiid had an appendectomy in Houston on April 9 after Philadelphia’s star big man was stricken with appendicitis overnight. He returned to the court Sunday wearing a protective brace around his midsection and was cleared to play about 40 minutes before the scheduled tipoff.
“What am I going to do? Cry about it?” Embiid said of his latest postseason malady.
Whatever emotional lift he provided lasted only minutes into the first quarter.
Pritchard buried a long 3 on one leg to end the first quarter and give Boston a 34-18 lead.
“He’s just a guy that finds the game. He dictates the pace for us,” Celtics coach Joe Mazulla said. "He did a good job of that for himself and others tonight. When we’re at our best, he’s aggressive.”
Embiid shot 3 of 5 in the first quarter while the rest of the Sixers missed 10 of 13 shots.
There were some questions about how Tatum’s return in early March from the ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in the playoffs last May would affect the flow of a group that had learned to adjust and thrive without the six-time All-Star.
Instead, Tatum has reacclimated himself in short order and the Celtics are dominating like a team that feels as though the East will go through Boston.
Embiid's gutsy return mattered little, and now the Celtics can clinch the series at home and wait for the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-New York Knicks series.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid goes up for a dunk during the first half of Game 4 against the Boston Celtics in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Boston Celtics' Payton Pritchard, left, tries to get past Philadelphia 76ers' Dominick Barlow during the first half of Game 4 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Andre Drummond, right, reacts past Boston Celtics' Neemias Queta after an injury during the first half of Game 4 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum (0) goes up for a shot against Philadelphia 76ers' Kelly Oubre Jr. (9) during the first half of Game 4 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Boston Celtics' Sam Hauser, from left, Payton Pritchard and Nikola Vucevic react during the first half of Game 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
