NEW YORK — Throughout his career, Michael Lorenzen has had the upper hand when facing the Mets. On Friday night, he was dealing like an ace at Citi Field.

Lorenzen threw seven efficient innings and used the double play to its full advantage as Colorado opened a six-game road trip with a 4-3 victory over the Mets. The loss was New York’s 13^th loss in its last 15 games and continued a string of frustrating tries against Lorenzen, who entered Friday with a 2.61 career ERA in 41 1/3 innings over 16 games against the Mets.

In his longest outing with the Rockies, the 34-year-old right-hander used the double play to defuse threats in three innings, including the fifth when New York had runners on first and third with one out. Bo Bichette smoked a 0-1 cutter right at shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who started the 6-4-3 double play.

“Throughout the year, I’ve only had a few starts, but some of those (grounders) are in the hole a little too far from where I wanted so it’s not a double play,” Lorenzen said. “Tonight, they were double plays. It’s exciting when it goes your way after you’re trying to throw the right pitches to get those double plays. Thankfully, the execution was there.”

The double plays helped Lorenzen throw just 90 pitches in the outing, which was also his fourth career start of seven innings or more while allowing one or fewer runs and issuing no walks.

“Mike picked up the boys tonight in the bullpen,” said Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer. “I don’t want to say it was in shambles, but it was light tonight for sure as hard as they’ve been working down there. That’s how a teammate steps up for his team right there.”

While Lorenzen was keeping the Mets off the scoreboard early, it was Antonio Senzatela who was needed to finish the job.

The former starter picked up his second career save by recording the game’s final five outs, including a momentum-swinging double play to end the eighth inning.

After reliever Jaden Hill had given up four hits, including Brett Baty’s two-run single that pulled the Mets within 4-3, Senzatela entered the game. Two pitches later, Mark Vientos hit a liner to Rockies second baseman Tyler Freeman, who stepped on the bag to double up pinch runner Tommy Pham and silence the home crowd of 36,233.

Senzatela admitted after the game that he didn’t think his number would be called, given the game circumstances.

“It wasn’t on my mind,” Senzatela said. “When I saw Michael throw seven, I was like, ‘OK, that’s enough’ because I’ve been throwing in innings five or six.

“When (Hill) got in trouble, they said ‘Senza,’ and I was like, ‘OK, let’s go.’ I just tried to stay calm and make pitches.”

Senzatela did just that, needing just 10 pitches to get five outs.

On the offensive side, Colorado banged out 10 hits after having just one in the first three innings against Mets starter Freddy Peralta. Jake McCarthy’s RBI double in the sixth gave Colorado its first lead at 2-1 and continued what has been a hot streak for the outfielder in recent games.

McCarthy entered the night slashing .346/.433/.538 over his last 12 games and has reached safely in 11 of his last 12 games with a plate appearance. McCarthy ended Friday night hitting .240 after posting just a .138 average through April 11.

“I’ve been getting good pitches to hit and putting good swings on them,” McCarthy said. “Early on, I try not to pay too much attention to the result because there’s always going to be an ebb and flow.

“I just try to be the same guy every day and put together good at-bats, hit the ball on a line and then try to use my speed. It’s early, so I’ve been just trying to chip away.”

Rockies 4, Mets 3

What happened: Troy Johnston’s two-run single in the seventh inning proved to be the difference as Colorado snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Mets that dated back to Aug. 7, 2024.

On the mound: Michael Lorenzen went seven innings for the first time since September to provide the Rockies’ bullpen some much-needed rest. Colorado is in the final stretches of a 13-day run without an off day.

At the plate: All nine Rockies starters recorded a hit, with Ezequiel Tovar going 2 for 4. His second-inning single snapped a 0-for-14 skid.

What’s next: Colorado’s Jose Quintana (0-2, 6.23 ERA) is scheduled to square off against New York’s Kodai Senga (0-3, 8.83 ERA) on Saturday at Citi Field at 2:10 p.m.