The Colorado Rockies were a strike away from a sweep but a pair of wild pitches from their closer capped off another frustrating bullpen collapse, as the Cincinnati Reds came back to win 7-5 in extras.
Once again, the bottom of the order provided plenty of lift and the starter did his part but the ‘pen just couldn’t hold the lead.
Tyler Anderson delivered an outing that his club needed, soaking up seven innings, scattering hits, allowing just one free pass, and working aggressively in the zone throughout the contest.
As they’ve done better than any other team in MLB this season, the Rockies scored a run in the first, though they got some help from Reds shortstop Alex Blandino who committed a throwing error to open the game, allowing DJ LeMahieu to reach base.
LeMahieu moved up to third on a Charlie Blackmon line drive single to right field and scored when Nolan Arenado (after review) grounded into a double play.
The Reds tied it up in the second after an Adam Duvall single and a Curt Casali double. The play at the plate was close but catcher Tony Wolters just barely missed the tag and Duvall was safe.
It looked like Colorado was going to miss a golden opportunity to strike back, getting a leadoff double from LeMahieu in the third then watching Blackmon and Arenado go down on strikes. But Carlos Gonzalez, who has been on a tear as of late, came through with a rocket line drive up the middle for the go-ahead RBI single.
The Rockies added another run in the fourth with some more strange happenings. Mike Tauchman collected his first extra-base hit of the season, in his first start since being recalled from Triple-A, on a groundball double off the end of the bat.
He moved up to third on a Ryan McMahon lineout and would score when he and Anderson successfully executed a squeeze bunt play.
After the Rockies missed an opportunity to add on in the fifth—Blackmon making an unusual baserunning mistake, taking himself off the path before a CarGo double—the Reds made it a one-run game in the bottom half. Another oddity, it was a pinch-hit single from a pitcher, Michael Lorenzen, that got the rally started. Pinch-runner Billy Hamilton came around on a Scott Schebler double that Tauchman misplayed in left.
The game was nearly tied when Blandino ripped a hard ground ball down the third-base line. But that’s where the best defender in the game happens to play. Arenado dove for the stop, and in one motion fired across the diamond for the final out of the inning.
“Are you kidding me?!?”
Nope, that’s just what he does. #NolanBeingNolan ? pic.twitter.com/tExVNGC6iZ— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 7, 2018
Colorado finally created some space in the sixth, getting a solid line drive single from Tauchman back up the middle that was followed by the first triple of McMahon’s career, a sinking liner down the right-field line. McMahon came home on a sac fly from DJ LeMahieu to make it 5-2, Rockies.
Despite sitting over 90 pitches, Anderson took the ball for the seventh and worked his second consecutive 1-2-3 inning to finish off his day in style and give the Rockies bullpen some desperately-needed breathing room.
Of course, that still wouldn’t prove to be enough.
Mike Dunn entered the game and promptly surrendered a walk, a single, and a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Even worse, he had to had the ball to Scott Oberg with Joey Votto coming to the plate.
Oberg made some fantastic pitches to get ahead of Votto 0-2 before getting him to ground out softly to second. Unfortunately for the Rockies, it wasn’t hit hard enough to attempt the double play, so a run scored and both runners moved up. Eugenio Suarez then hit a liner to shortstop but Trevor Story made a nice stop and was able to catch Scooter Gennett in a rundown.
But Suarez moved up to second on the play and Jesse Winker came through with a single to right, but for the second time in the game, the Rockies brilliant defense erased the potential tying run as Suarez was thrown out at the plate by Carlos Gonzalez.
Wade Davis came on in the ninth and despite getting ahead of Casali 0-2, ended up plunking him, putting the tying run on base with nobody out. He bounced back to strike out Brandon Dixon but then gave up a hard ground ball single to Jose Peraza, putting the potential winning run aboard.
Then, with light-hitting Hamilton at the plate, Davis uncorked a wild pitch, allowing the runners to advance. But he came right back to strike out Hamilton bringing the game down to a showdown with Schebler, who had three hits in the game to that point.
With first base open, the Rockies elected to pitch to Schebler, and Davis worked ahead 1-2. Somehow, Schebler fouled off a pitch up at his eyes which saved the game for the Reds when the Rockies closer unleashed his second wild pitch of the inning, allowing the tying run to score.
Bryan Shaw came on for extras and had Rockies fans bracing for the loss. But, with the game of baseball insisting on extreme irony, he managed to pitch through two innings, allowing a couple of walks and a single but also inducing a couple of double plays to give the Rockies a chance.
Chris Rusin pitched a 1-2-3 12th but plunked Votto and gave up the walk-off, two-run home run to Winker in the 13th.
This was the seventh loss in the Rockies last 10 defeats in which they held a lead going into the sixth inning or later.
Colorado fell to 32-30, 21-14 on the road, and have moved a half-game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the NL West.
Final Stats:
Tyler Anderson: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Mike Dunn: 0.0 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB
Scott Oberg: 1 IP, 1 H
Wade Davis: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 2 WP, BS (3)
Bryan Shaw: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB
Chris Rusin: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER
Carlos Gonzalez: 2-for-5, RBI
Mike Tauchman: 2-for-5, 2 R
DJ LeMahieu: 1-for-5, 2 R, RBI
Ryan McMahon: 1-for-6, 1 R, 1 RBI
Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-6
Nolan Arenado: 2-for-5
What’s Next:
The Rockies return home to face off against division rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks in a battle of teams atop the NL West standings. Game 1 will feature Zack Greinke against German Marquez. First pitch at 6:40 Mountain Time.
