Stingy bullpen makes Rox early lead stick

DENVER — His start Saturday night was far from memorable for Eddie Butler. It was nowhere near as good as his previous outing — six scoreless innings at San Francisco — but Butler went far enough to let manager Walt Weiss maneuver his relievers.

Butler pitched into the sixth, enabling Weiss to deploy his bullpen exactly as he wanted to and not out of need.

Four relievers followed Butler and nailed down a 7-4 win over the Mets. It was a season-high tying third straight win for the Rockies, whose five-run third gave Butler a 7-1 lead.

He gave up a solo homer to Neil Walker in the fourth. But Butler then got three ground-ball outs, the last on a superb stop by second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who had an outstanding defensive game, on pinch hitter Alejandro De Aza’s hard smash.

Butler got a double-play grounder to end the fifth as shortstop Trevor Story took a hard, clean hit from David Wright but unloaded a strong throw.

In the sixth, Butler yielded a …

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