Rockies situational hitting disappears again in series loss to Reds

For the second straight contest against the Cincinnati Reds, the Colorado Rockies were unable to come up with the big hit with men on base, going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in a 3-2 loss.

Sunday’s starter Peter Lambert continues to show strides toward becoming a very promising MLB pitcher. One tough inning derailed his outing from being an excellent one, but he competed and gave his club a chance to win.

The Rockies offense was able to get some momentum starting from the first batter of the game when Trevor Story led off against Alex Wood, making his 2019 debut, with a double. From that moment of opportunity to the last one, they were unable to put together quality at bats to advance him over or get him in.

Lambert started his day with a nice and breezy 1-2-3 inning on nine pitches before all kinds of trouble in the second.

He continued to pound the strike zone and work ahead of hitters but couldn’t find a putaway pitch, giving up back-to-back singles to Josh VanMeter and Scooter Gennett, both with two strikes.

The 22-year-old righty worked ahead of Jose Iglesias to an 0-2 count then jammed him with a breaking ball hit weakly on the infield toward second base. Normally, this would mean either a harmless pop out with no runners advancing or more ideally for the man on the mound, a short hop that can be converted into a double play.

Unfortunately, the ball fell into no man’s land in front of Ryan McMahon. Electing to attempt a glove flip as he charged in for the ball, the ball was offline and everyone was safe, including the first run of the game.

Tucker Barnhart followed up with a liner to left, the fourth straight single in a two-strike count for the Reds, giving them a 2-0 advantage before Lambert escaped any further damage on a strikeout of Wood and a grounder off the bat of Nick Senzel.

The Rockies offense continued to miss opportunities in the early innings, but finally broke through in the fifth. David Dahl worked an excellent at bat and produced a fantastic contact swing on a two-strike slider, pulling it into the gap in right-center field for a double, his second hit of the game. It was his 27th double of the season and the 50th of his young career.

For what must feel like the 10th time in a row, Nolan Arenado pulled the ball hard to the left side; a nice play from Eugenio Suarez at the hot corner took away extra bases and an RBI. That left it up to the newest Rockie, Yonder Alonso, to come through with two outs. And he very much did.

Alonso timed up a fastball perfectly and sent it deep to right-center for his first home run in a Colorado uniform, tying the game at 2-2.

Lambert finished his afternoon with a shutdown bottom half of the fifth before the Reds retook the lead against reliever Jake McGee in the sixth.

VanMeter walked on a 3-2 slider that Statcast showed in the strike zone. Iglesias was then plunked on a two-strike slider that ran way inside which allowed him to score on a single up the middle from Barnhart. Jairo Díaz came on to get a strikeout and a groundout, limiting the damage to one run.

The Rockies were unable to make anything of a pair of walks from McMahon and Tony Wolters in the eighth. They ended the game with the perfect symbol of the series when a two-out rally on consecutive singles from Arenado and Alonso ended in a thud with groundout to third from Ian Desmond.

With the loss, Colorado dropped the series and concluded a 3-7 road trip. They fall to 49-57 on the season.