Rockies bats betray pitching in Opening Day dud

The Colorado Rockies did not play an altogether poor baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Opening Day, July 24, 2020.

They pitched incredibly well. They played fantastic defense. They had the right offensive approach that should be followed for the entirety of the campaign. On a mental level, they played the better baseball game.

But fortune was not on their side in a 1-0 loss at the hands of starter Lance Lynn and an inability to get any of the key moments to go their way.

German Marquez was nearly perfect through five, but a pair of doubles in the sixth from Danny Santana and Rougned Odor turned out to be the difference in the game.

Play of the Game

It could have been a diving catch from Sam Hilliard that saved a one-run lead. It could have been any number of at-bats with runners in scoring position. It could have been whoever came through after Ryan McMahon walked to lead off the ninth.

But, as it turned out, the only candidate for play of the game was Odor catching up to a 3-2 fastball up in the zone and hammering it into the right-center field gap for what turned out to be the only run-scoring moment of the entire contest.

That was it.

Player of the Game: German Marquez

Sure, this could easily go to Lynn who pitched six innings, topped 100 pitches, and actually won the game. But he ran into a bit of luck by having every single one of his best pitches on the night come in a key count in a key at-bat after the Rockies had done everything else right.

Take Lynn if you like, we are sticking with the incredibly promising performance from Marquez who struck out six and allowed just a pair of hits over six innings. He hit his spot more often than not, he executed some devastating breaking pitches, worked far more efficiently than his counterpart, and didn’t quite receive the same benefit of the doubt when it came to the strike zone.

Runner Up: David Dahl

It should not be forgotten that centerfielder David Dahl had an exceptional showing of himself. In addition to making a very nice sliding catch on defense, he tallied all three of Colorado’s hits in the contest.

Trevor Story hit a ball in the sixth that almost everyone thought was going out, and Charlie Blackmon almost got one in the eighth that just went foul. Either could easily have been the hero in this one. Several guys could have cashed in Dahl, or one of Story’s two early walks, into runs, but it was not to be.

As such, Dahl was the only mentionable on offense with a pair of singles and a double. Murphy, Arenado, McMahon, and Tapia all also drew walks but it didn’t amount to much in the end.

Conclusion

See you tomorrow?

What’s Next

In Game 2, Jon Gray is slated to take on lefty Mike Minor in an afternoon contest. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 Mountain Time.