Rockies end series against Cardinals with a whimper

DENVER – The Colorado Rockies were out for revenge against the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game set at Coors Field but were unable to find it, getting throttled in the finale by a score of 12-3.

Other than two standout innings, the Rockies got pretty well outplayed by the Cardinals in the series but did manage to take a game against a team they always struggle against.

Matt Carpenter led off the first by hitting a high fly ball that was just out of the reach of a leaping Carlos Gonzalez in right, bouncing off the wall for a double. Anderson got a groundout and a strikeout to freeze Carpenter at second and, in a full count, was a strike away escaping any damage but Tyler O’Neil went down and put the barrel on one that looked like it would fall just short off the bat.

But it carried well and landed in the front row in left-center field to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Anderson found himself right back in trouble by giving up a pair of singles to Paul DeJong and Jedd Gyorko. Harrison Bader followed with another to plate DeJong and that meant an obvious walk of the eight-hole hitter was in order to get to the pitcher.

In a bit of terrible luck, Anderson got Austin Gomber to hit well on top of the baseball but he pounded it so hard into the ground that the ensuing hop took too much time for LeMahieu to be able to make a play after waiting for it to come down. Bader scored all the way from second with some heads-up base running.

It was the most Baltimore-y of Baltimore chops.

That brought Carpenter, who started the whole mess, back to the plate and he promptly hit his second double of the inning to score Yairo Munoz (IBB) and chase Anderson from the game with a six-run deficit, having recorded just one out.

Chad Bettis came on and ended the madness of the first and worked a clean second before running into all kinds of his own issues when the game got completely out of hand in the third when he was tagged for four runs.

Gyorko singles and moved to third on a poor throw decision from Chris Iannetta trying to go to third. Munoz beat out a double play attempt and Gomber laid down the sac bunt in front of another double from Carpenter to score another. He came in on a Yadier Molina double and the future Hall-of-Fame catcher was plated on a double off the bat of Jose Martinez.

The Rockies did manage to scratch out a run in the second on a Matt Holliday single, an Ian Desmond double, and an error from Bader.

They got another in the third thanks to a DJ LeMahieu double and a single from Arenado, but the game was well out of hand at that point.

The Cardinals even added two more runs in the sixth against Chris Rusin. And the Rockies got one back on a LeMahieu single and a Carlos Gonzalez double, making the final score 12-3.

What’s Next:

The Rockies are off for a two-game set with the Los Angeles Angels. Jon Gray will face off against Odrisamer Despaigne. First pitch at 8:07 Mountain Time.