Rockies drop third straight to lowly Pirates; fall to second-worst in NL

DENVER – Entering this weekend’s four-game series with the NL Central-worst Pirates, the NL West-worst Rockies were holding steady at 13th place in the National League.

Saturday night’s loss, the third-straight at the hands of Pittsburgh and fifth-straight overall, moves Colorado back in the standings to 14th place or, as it’s more appropriate to call it, 2nd-worst in the league.

Starter RHP Tim Melville, hot off two impressive YouTube performances, gave up as many runs in his first pitch of the game as his previous 12 innings. The leadoff home run by Kevin Newman was his third in as many days and the initial hint that Melville Mania was coming to a close.

The Bucs added another run in the first, before three more scored during a 52 pitch second inning that ended Melville’s night. All total, it escalated his ERA from 0.75 up to 3.21 because of the four earned runs over the two frames.

The bullpen was serviceable, especially considering they had a long way to get to the 27th out. Wes Parsons surrendered two solo shots in the fourth by Josh Bell and Jose Osuna, respectively, but this was all the damage Pittsburgh would cause the undrafted 26-year-old righty.

After Bryan Shaw worked a scoreless sixth, Jake McGee had trouble in the seventh. Pinch hitter Pablo Reyes launched an apparent homer high into the Centennial sky that was corralled by Sam Hilliard on an acrobatic leaping play for a double, keeping it from becoming another Coors Field casualty. An error by McGee allowed the inning to continue and three total runs scored.

Sam Howard showed flashes of potential during two innings of work, striking out four and giving up a solitary run, partially due to an obstruction play by Ryan McMahon that should have delivered a much needed double play.

Offensively, Colorado scored in bits and pieces off Pirates’ starter RHP Joe Musgrove in his quality start, scratching across a run in four separate innings.

McMahon and Daniel Murphy each hit a solo homer and while the box score shows the team going 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position, a pair of sacrifice flies by Nolan Arenado and Garrett Hampson counted for the other Rockies’ runs. Only Charlie Blackmon, who reached on his 37th double of the season, was left stranded in scoring position.

Colorado is now 2-11 since August 11 and at an even .500 (34-34) at home with their fifth-straight loss, all at home. The Rockies finish August at .321 (9-19), tied for the worst winning percentage of any August in franchise history.