Rockies kick away finale, lose series in St. Louis

The Colorado Rockies just cannot seem to figure out a way to win in St. Louis against the Cardinals.

In another tight contest, the visitors took a lead into the final inning thanks to some phenomenal pitching by Antonio Senzatela, Seunghwan Oh, and Adam Ottavino, but Wade Davis couldn’t close the deal, falling victim to a trio of singles, the final of which, from Jose Martinez, went for a walk-off that completed the comeback in a 3-2 win for the Cardinals.

It was the second crushing loss of the series for Colorado who have not won a series in St. Louis since 2010. It is the first time in their last eight sets that they dropped the series.

The Cardinals scored the first run of the game in the third inning, a frame that could have been much worse for Senzatela.

It began in about as frustrating a fashion as possible with a jam-shot bloop hit off the bat of pitcher Miles Mikolas. Perpetual thorn-in-the-side Matt Carpenter followed with a soft single of his own, a second straight hit on a pitch that fooled the batter, to put runners at first and second with nobody out.

Mikolas managed to move up on a ball in the dirt, narrowly beating out Tony Wolter’s throw to third. Senzatela buckled down after that, winning a battle with one of the best clutch hitters (.302 career average with RISP) in Yadier Molina, getting him to pop up on the infield. Tyler O’Neill did manage to get the run in with a sac fly to left but Senzatela was able to limit the damage to just that, getting another pop out from Marcell Ozuna.

The Rockies responded right away, but it looked for a moment that more heroics from O’Neill would prevent them from doing so. Nolan Arenado led things off in the top of the fourth with a single to left and was able to advance when Carlos Gonzalez beat the shift by laying down a perfect bunt that clipped the third base bag, going for a single.

When Trevor Story drove the ball to right, both runners looked primed to score but O’Neill made a sensational diving catch. Arenado wisely tagged and moved up but Mikolas was suddenly a groundball away from escaping the inning clinging to the 1-0 lead. But Gerardo Parra continued his excellent hitting in RBI situations, hitting a solid line drive single to left, his second base hit in the game, tying it up at one run apiece.

The poor fortune the Rockies had experienced throughout the series and the game turned for a moment in the following at-bat when Ian Desmond’s swinging bunt, that was assuredly going for a single anyway, became a costly throwing error on Mikolas, allowing Parra to come all the way around to score the go-ahead run.

The sixth inning was another stressful one for Senzatela, beginning with a leadoff walk to O’Neill. He quickly retired Paul DeJong and Jedd Gryorko then struck out Yairo Munoz on a curveball in the dirt.

But, on one of the ugliest errors in recent memory—both mental and physical—Wolters threw the ball to second instead, apparently forgetting how many outs there were in the inning. On top of that, the throw sailed into centerfield, allowing the tying run to reach third when a simple throw to first would have ended the inning.

Things got even more tense when Senzatela plunked Greg Garcia in the ensuing at-bat to load the bases. But the 23-year-old wasn’t shaken, at least not to his core, bouncing back with some of his best pitches of the afternoon to strike out Harrison Bader, leave ’em loaded, and preserve the Rockies 2-1 lead.

Seungwhan Oh pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, a rarity for the Rockies in 2018, and the exact reason they acquired him at the trade deadline.

Adam Ottavino walked DeJong with one out in the eighth. The infielder put a scare into the Rox when it looked like he had swiped second base but upon review, he was thrown out by Wolters (who had an eventful day) before Otto retired Gryorko on a fly out.

Wade Davis came on in the ninth and immediately got some help on a gorgeous trademark play by Arenado who backhanded a grounder, running into foul territory, and made the strong throw to first to get Garcia.