Rockies fall apart late yet again

The Colorado Rockies can’t even win when they mostly play well right now.

Starter Peter Lambert gave them a solid effort Monday night and the offense did their part, but it was all thrown away by the bullpen in a matter of seconds for an 8-6 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rockies put up four runs in the first thanks to a parade of low line drives. Charlie Blackmon got it going with a single the other way and Trevor Story followed with a double to nearly the same spot in left-center, using his speed to grab the extra base.

Daniel Murphy’s shallow fly to left was not deep enough to bring in a run and Nolan Arenado was given the intentional pass to load the bases. After striking out Ryan McMahon, Dbacks starter Merrill Kelly was one pitch from escaping the jam.

Raimel Tapia sliced the first pitch through the left side for a single, scoring Blackmon and Story while Tony Wolters scored Arenado and Tapia to give Colorado a 4-0 lead.

The Diamondbacks got one back in the third on a walk and a pair of singles; they added two more in the fourth to make it a one-run game.

Lambert created a mess when he walked the bases loaded and nearly cleaned it all up when he induced a 1-2-3 double play. But with two outs, Nick Ahmed cashed in the opportunity with a double over Tapia’s head in center after he took a misstep in.

Story hit back with his 27th home run of the season, a no-doubt solo shot to center field. McMahon made it 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth with another moonshot to center.

Jake McGee came on in the sixth and coughed up the lead on just a handful of pitches.

He lost a battle to Jake Lamb who put one in the front row in left. In his major league debut, Josh Rojas singled up the middle and Ahmed hammered one to center for a game-tying home run. McGee left the game without having recorded an out.

Things didn’t get better when Chad Bettis gave up another home run on a line drive to left from Carson Kelly. He got the next three outs, but the three-run lead quickly turned into a 7-6 deficit in just a half inning.

Arizona added an insurance run against Jairo Diaz and Colorado couldn’t counter with a late rally making the final score 8-6.