Rockies lose a battle, reload for the war

The Colorado Rockies were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night, but we may just look back on this night less for the game that was played and more as the night the Rockies acquired Pat Neshek.

An ugly fourth inning, with some terrible umpiring, some bad fielding, and some rookie frustration showed by Jeff Hoffman ultimately led to a 10-5 loss, finishing off the sweep in what was another house of horrors trip for Colorado to the Missouri.

The inning in question began with singles from Yadier Molina and Randall Grichuk and a walk to the hero of Tuesday night’s game, Harrison Bader.  Again, Bader was gifted twice in the at-bat, getting one in the zone called a ball and being issued yet another opportunity on a missed check swing call.

Kolten Wong grounded into what looked like a double play but he was ruled safe at first and there was no challenge. Still, the Rockies held a 4-3 lead. But after a long battle with his counterpart, Carlos Martinez, Hoffman threw a decent slider away that the pitcher just flung the bat at to hit an RBI single to right, tying the game at four.

Matt Carpenter followed that up by ripping a gap in the double scoring a pair of runners and suddenly the game had been flipped on end. Tommy Pham added a sac fly and St. Louis would get two more in the sixth on a double from Molina. And to complete the “this was a crap game” bingo card for Colorado, the 10th run came in on a wild pitch from Adam Ottavino in the seventh.

Hoffman’s final line: 4 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K.

Colorado took a 4-2 lead in the third with a Gerardo Parra two-RBI opposite-field double.

Paul Dejong tied the game with a two-run home run in the first, his second straight game with a two-RBI blast in the first inning.

The Rockies took an early lead with a Nolan Arenado two-run home run in the first but that didn’t last long.

The bottom of the Rockies lineup, Mark Reynolds, Carlos Gonzalez, Trevor Story, and Ryan Hanigan, went a combined 2-for-16 and left four men on base.

Colorado fell to 58-45 and are now a game back from the Arizona Diamondbacks for the lead in the Wild Card. They have the fifth best record in MLB.