Rockies lose ridiculous ballgame in ridiculous fashion

The Colorado Rockies extended their losing streak to seven games but it took the San Francisco Giants 18 innings to put them away in a marathon gut-punch loss.

Of course, the game ended on a tormenting play when Chris Iannetta should have been able to make a force out at home (and maybe even a double play to send it to the 19th) but his foot came off the plate, allowing the winning run to score. It is the second time this season he has made that physical error on a play at the plate.

In order to get their first run since before the latest superstorm hit Denver, the Rockies needed a break to finally go there way. And they got one.

In the top of the fourth, Garrett Hampson – inserted into the two-spot in the lineup after being the only member of the club with multiple hits in the first game of the series – laced a one-out triple into the gap in left, setting up a great scoring opportunity.

But Nolan Arenado popped up on the infield leaving it up to Trevor Story to produce a two-out hit to score the run. Or so we thought.

As it turned out, Drew Pomeranz would balk in the run to put Colorado on the board.

Story did come up with a hit anyway then swiped second, his first stolen bag of the year, and scored in a more traditional way when the offense actually came up with a big hit, this one a double from Ian Desmond to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

The Giants were able to retaliate when a leadoff walk came back to bite (surprise, surprise) Bettis. The free pass to Steven Duggar was followed up by a Joe Panik single that moved him to third. Bettis got a ground ball double play out of Evan Longoria but the run scored to make it a 2-1 game.

Bettis had managed to escape a big inning despite allowing a leadoff batter in four of the first five innings but a pinch-hit double from Pablo Sandoval proved to be a more difficult task in the sixth. It didn’t help that Duggar found his way into an “excuse me” infield check-swing single to put runners at the corner with nobody out and chase Bettis from the game.

Mike Dunn inherited the tough situation and faced a guy who rarely strikes out in Panik. He caught a bit too much of the zone with a 2-2 slider that Panik was able to lift into right field for the sac fly. Bryan Shaw then came into the game to get a couple of quick outs and keep it tied.

Seunghwan Oh pitched a clean seventh featuring a brilliant diving catch from the one-and-only Nolan Arenado.

The best chance at a big inning came in the top of the eighth after a leadoff single for Charlie Blackmon and a sac bunt that saw Hampson barely out at first base. Arenado was intentionally walked in front of a scorching line drive single from Story that loaded the bases with one away.

But Desmond was unable to wait back enough on a slew of changeups from lefty Tony Watson, eventually lining one softly to short for the second out. Rookie Josh Fuentes then struck out, also on a changeup, to leave em loaded.

Scott Oberg dominated the bottom of the frame with a pair of weak outs and a strikeout.

Colorado could not mount a threat in the top of the ninth so Oberg went back out and again made quick work of the Giants on a groundout and two strikeouts of the heart of the order.

The Rockies again had a great chance in the top of the tenth. After Blackmon struck out swinging, Hampson drew a walk and Arenado singled, but Story – who had two hits in the game – rolled over a cutting fastball for an easy 6-4-3 double play to kill the rally.

So that it meant it was up to Carlos Estevez to keep the game alive for his team. He got Brandon Crawford to ground out on the first pitch and blew Kevin Pillar away for a strikeout on three offerings but found himself in a battle with former Rockie Gerardo Parra.

Falling behind 3-1, Estevez made a good pitch on a fastball on the outer edge but Parra went with it and drove it the other way, putting fear into the hearts of Rockies’ fans that this game might end with an extra twist of the knife.

But Yonathan Daza tracked the flyball down to make the catch and send the game to an 11th inning.

The struggling Colorado offense wasted their third opportunity in the last four innings in the top of the 11th, though. Desmond and pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia started the frame with back-to-back singles but Daza was unable to lay down the sac bunt, striking out on the attempt. Chris Iannetta struck out swinging and Valaika ground out to short.

Yency Almonte came on in the bottom of the 11th and stayed in after the Rockies offense went quietly in the next half-inning. He got Panik to ground out but gave up a single to Longoria then bounced back to get Belt on a fly out to center before giving way to closer Wade Davis.

Davis missed with his first three pitches to Crawford but came back to strike the gold glover out and send the game to the 13th inning.

Both offenses dried up (even more) until Belt finally broke through with a leadoff double in the bottom of the 18th. He moved up on a flyball to center and scored on the Ianetta play at the plate to end the game.

The Rockies set a new franchise record with 24 strikeouts in the game.

What’s Next

The third game of this four-game set takes place on Saturday afternoon, the first of two straight day games. Kyle Freeland takes the rock for Colorado and the Giants will send Madison Bumgarner to the hill. First pitch at 2:05 Mountain Time.