Rockies bats quiet again in loss to Brewers

DENVER – The Colorado Rockies just haven’t been able to get on a run at home.

After another successful road trip that ended in a six-game winning streak, the Rockies have now lost two in a row in relatively non-competitive fashion, especially from an offensive perspective.

Again struggling to make the most of opportunities and seeing some regression from a not-at-all sharp German Marquez, Colorado fell 5-2 in the first of a four-game set to the Milwaukee Brewers on a warm evening in Denver.

It started in the first when he left a fastball right over the heart of the plate to the first batter of the game, Lorenzo Cain. The Brewers centerfielder deposited that fastball over the wall in center. Marquez gave up a single and a walk with two outs but managed to wriggle out of any damage.

Trevor Story tied the game in the bottom of the second with his eighth home run of the year, matching Cain no-doubter for no-doubter.

He worked around another pair of baserunners in the second but wasn’t so fortunate in the third surrendering a run on a sac fly from Manny Pina in an inning that included three more singles and a hit batsmen.

He tightroped out of the fourth again, getting Ryan Braun to ground into a double play.

But the Brewers finally got to him in the fifth, getting a single from Travis Shaw, a double from Jesus Aguilar, a single by Hernan Perez, and a single from Cain to make it 5-1 Milwaukee and chase Marquez from the game.

Colorado got one back on an odd play in the bottom of the fifth when the struggling Ian Desmond smoked one into the left-center field gap for a triple. But the relay throw to third skipped into the stands, allowing Desmond to score.

They came away empty-handed in another great opportunity the following inning, getting a one-out walk from Nolan Arenado and a left-on-left single from David Dahl. Story drew a walk of his own to load the bases but Gerardo Parra hit into a 5-2-3 double play to end the threat and the inning.

Harrison Musgrave put together a nice couple of innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one base runner.  But the offense just couldn’t come through in the final innings and the Rockies dropped their second straight game.

They are now 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position in their last two games.

They fall to 21-17 on the season and are 6-9 at home.

Final Stats:

German Marquez: 4.2 IP, 12 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K

Mike Dunn: 0.1 IP, K

Harrison Musgrave: 2 IP, 1 BB

Jake McGee: 1 IP

Trevor Story: 1-for-2, 1 R, RBI, BB, HR (8)

DJ LeMahieu: 2-for-4

Ian Desmond: 1-for-3, 1 R, 3B

David Dahl: 1-for-4, 3 K

Nolan Arenado: 0-for-2, 2 BB

What’s Next:

The Rockies aim to strike back on Friday night in the second game of the series. Chad Bettis will face off against Brandon Woodruff. First pitch at 6:40 Moutain Time.