Poor fundamentals on bases, at plate doom Rockies in first loss of 2017

A bad inning got to the Colorado Rockies starter for the third game in a row, but this time it cost them. Tyler Chatwood looked mostly pretty good, but ended up getting tagged for four runs in an eery imitation of what Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson had done the days prior. But this time, the offense wouldn’t bail the starter out and the bullpen finally gave up some runs in a 6-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers almost took an early lead in the bottom of the third but Orlando Arcia was gunned down at the home by Carlos Gonzalez after he made a fantastic shoetop catch and fired a strike to the plate. Apparently, Arcia forgot the main reason CarGo was nominated for a Gold Glove a year ago.

But the Rockies weren’t so fortunate in the fourth as Chatwood gave up a pair of no-doubt home runs to Eric Thames and Travis Shaw who has been a thorn in Colorado’s side all series. The homers were sandwiched around a Ryan Braun infield single and the Brewers to a 3-0 lead. The latter blast included Shaw’s fourth and fifth RBI of the early season.

The Brew Crew tacked on a fourth run in the sixth with a little help from some poor fundamental play by the Rockies. First, Chatwood walked Ryan Braun then balked him over to second which put him in a position to score on a Hernan Perez double that would have been a single had anyone been covering second base.

Jordan Lyles worked easily through the seventh inning but gave up a two-run shot to Jonathan Villar who was trying to atone for his negative play so far this series. That broke the Rockies bullpen’s scoreless streak and gave the Brewers a 6-0 lead in the eighth.

Wily Peralta kept the Rockies off balance pretty effectively through his five innings. He allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out five. His ability to locate the slider in the strike zone buckled the Rockies ability to sit on the fastball which touched up to 98 mph.

But still, the Rockies beat themselves at the plate plenty in this game with over-aggressive swings and poor pitch recognition. They tallied just five hits. Two for extra bases. One of those two extra-base hits was a ninth-inning double off the bat of Trevor Story who came around to score on a two-out, two-strike single from Mark Reynolds who continues his fantastic early-season play.

The Rox made it interesting in the final frame, loading Stephen Cardullo was hit by a pitch and Dustin Garneau walked. Most notably, this forced Milwaukee to bring their closer, Neftali Feliz into the game with one more slated to play tomorrow. They also took another reliever, Taylor Jungmann out of consideration for the final contest of the series by forcing him to throw over 30 pitches. So there are your silver linings if you were looking for some.

All told, the Rockies really only had two offensive rallies in this game and failed to follow through on either. Milwaukee will aim for a series split and Colorado will send 22-year-old Antonio Senzatela to the mound to make his MLB debut before he ever even threw a pitch at the Triple-A level. First pitch at 11:40.

It could be a wild ride this season, but the fascinating stories are unlikely to see an end anytime soon.