The Colorado Rockies can’t even win when they mostly play well right now.
Starter Peter Lambert gave them a solid effort Monday night and the offense did their part, but it was all thrown away by the bullpen in a matter of seconds for an 8-6 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Rockies put up four runs in the first thanks to a parade of low line drives. Charlie Blackmon got it going with a single the other way and Trevor Story followed with a double to nearly the same spot in left-center, using his speed to grab the extra base.
Daniel Murphy’s shallow fly to left was not deep enough to bring in a run and Nolan Arenado was given the intentional pass to load the bases. After striking out Ryan McMahon, Dbacks starter Merrill Kelly was one pitch from escaping the jam.
Raimel Tapia sliced the first pitch through the left side for a single, scoring Blackmon and Story while Tony Wolters scored Arenado and Tapia to give Colorado a 4-0 lead.
The Diamondbacks got one back in the third on a walk and a pair of singles; they added two more in the fourth to make it a one-run game.
Lambert created a mess when he walked the bases loaded and nearly cleaned it all up when he induced a 1-2-3 double play. But with two outs, Nick Ahmed cashed in the opportunity with a double over Tapia’s head in center after he took a misstep in.
Story hit back with his 27th home run of the season, a no-doubt solo shot to center field. McMahon made it 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth with another moonshot to center.
Jake McGee came on in the sixth and coughed up the lead on just a handful of pitches.
He lost a battle to Jake Lamb who put one in the front row in left. In his major league debut, Josh Rojas singled up the middle and Ahmed hammered one to center for a game-tying home run. McGee left the game without having recorded an out.
Things didn’t get better when Chad Bettis gave up another home run on a line drive to left from Carson Kelly. He got the next three outs, but the three-run lead quickly turned into a 7-6 deficit in just a half inning.
Arizona added an insurance run against Jairo Diaz and Colorado couldn’t counter with a late rally making the final score 8-6.
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Mary Pace
To (briefly) pat myself on the back, I have endured the following without the aid of adult beverages or the magic brownies now legal in Colorado: pre-humidor Coors, the pitching of Kyle Kendrick, Jeremy Guthrie, & Jamie Moyer, the defense of Wilin Rosario, and the 4-man piggy back rotation disaster of 2012.
In spite of all that, there are many moments (big & small) along the way that have kept me, coming back for 20 plus years (I swear I’m not as old as that sounds). Here are just a few I came up with.
1. 17 years of Todd Helton. It is a special thing when a player of that caliber spends his whole career with your hometown team.
2. The contract extensions of Tulo & CarGo and recently Chuck & Nolan. When All-Star, and in Nolan’s case generational, players commit to a team long term it energizes & even legitimizes a fanbase, because they’re not just committing to their clubhouse brethren, but to the people who watch them 81 games a year.
3. (Switching gears here) Jon Gray’s 16 K outing at Coors. Given the well-documented pitching challenges Coors Field poses, a dominant performance like that is special in it’s own context regardless of the season in which it occurs.
4. Long extra inning games in September (example: 9/15/15 Rox win 5-4 in 16 innings at Dodgers). On the one hand, they’re a pain because I have work in the morning. But on the other hand, even though it’s a meaningless game, I can’t turn it off because the players aren’t giving up so why should I? I have to keep watching because in just a few very short weeks there won’t be Rockies baseball and we’ll be in the cold, dark abyss of Winter (yes, I’m a Colorado native who hates Winter) just “staring out the window waiting for Spring” wishing for another baseball game.
Probably got off track from the original prompt, but these are just a few things that make love Rockies baseball.
Milehighbatman
Sigh……
Patrick Lyons
Indeed.
Breath in. Breath out.