Rockies thumped by Astros again for quick sweep

The Colorado Rockies got pretty well walloped by the Houston Astros on consecutive days for a quick and brutal two-game series sweep.

Again there were moments where the Rockies made the game feel close but a couple of huge swings put the game squarely in the win column for the home team at 14-3.

It was the second time in the still very young career of Peter Lambert that he had a truly bad outing and both times it is come at the hands of this All-Star-laden lineup.

He gave up four runs in the first inning on a pair of home runs including a three-run jack by Yuli Gurriel on a full count with two away.

He pitched a clean second keeping it a three-run game thanks to a Trevor Story home run. But a single and a series of walks allowed Gurriel to bring in another run on a sac fly in the third.

The game unraveled in the fourth. The usually command-centric Lambert walked another pair and gave up two more singles to make it 6-2 and left the game with the bases loaded and nobody out.

Jesus Tinoco entered the game and promptly walked in a run before notching back-to-back strikeouts.

Suddenly with a great chance to keep the game from getting totally out of hand, Tinoco left a mistake pitch right over the heart of the plate that Gurriel blasted for a bases-clearing double.

Tinoco did well to work through the fifth and into the sixth but ran out of gas while collecting six strikeouts. He gave way to Sam Howard who surrendered another three runs over the final 2.2 innings of work.

Gurriel’s day at the plate was historic: he tied an Astros franchise record with eight RBI.

Colorado fell to 52-62 and have the third-worst record in the National League.