Colorado clobbered in fifth straight loss

The Colorado Rockies looked every bit like a team suffering from multiple injuries in their loss to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.

The 6-1 defeat gives the club just one win in the last 10 games.

A lineup filled with players that were expected to either be back-ups or in Triple-A at this time in the season could not mount a rally and were overmatched in key moments.

The Braves got on the board in the second on Ronald Acuna’s second consecutive game with a home run in his first at-bat, launching one just out of the reach of a leaping Ian Desmond in center field.

The Rockies had a great chance to answer back in the bottom of the inning after a leadoff double in the gap from Tony Wolters and a bunt base hit for Marquez

It appeared for a moment like Yonathan Daza was going to not only get his first MLB hit but maybe even put his team ahead with a line drive that was slated for the corner in right field. But Freddie Freeland made a fantastic jumping catch and stepped on first base to complete a deflating double play. Raimel Tapia struck out on three pitches to strand Wolter at third.

Things got away from Marquez in the fourth.

Josh Donaldson doubled and Freeman singled to plate another run.

Nick Markakis followed with another single and adamant Swanson provided the gut punch with a three-run home run over the wall in center.

The Rockies answered the big inning by finally scoring a run but it ought to have been more.

Nolan Arenado led off with a single to left and was replaced on the bases by Trevor Story after a fielders choice. Story moved up on a passed ball and scored on a broken-bat single to center from Desmond.

Desi got all the way to third on an errant pickoff attempt, giving Josh Fuentes the chance to pull his club closer with a productive at-bat. But the rookie looked overmatched in a quick strikeout. Garrett Hampson popped out on the infield to strand Desmond at third.

Marquez tossed a few more decent innings and gave way to Bryan Shaw who pitched 1.1 innings without giving up a baserunner. Mike Dunn got his two batters but Seunghwan Oh was tagged for another run on three hits in the top of the eighth. And that made the final score 7-1.

With news that a snowstorm could wipe out tomorrow’s game, that might be the best this team could hope for right now.

What’s Next

Colorado will try to avoid the sweep in a Wednesday afternoon affair. Colorado-native Kevin Gausman will go for the Braves and the Rockies will hand the ball to Jeff Hoffman, making his first start of 2019. First pitch at 1:10 Mountain Time, weather permitting.