Denver – Most teams don’t tie and take the lead on a two-error play late in a game. Most teams don’t lose said lead in a horrific six-run blowup by their bullpen. Most teams don’t get that lead right back powered by six runs across two innings. Most teams don’t allow the tying and game-winning run in a blown save at home in the ninth. Most teams don’t give themselves a chance after all that to walk off in the ninth. Most teams score a run when they have the tying run on third with no outs in the ninth. The Colorado Rockies are not most teams.
The Rockies fight, there is no denying that. The Rockies also flop and nobody is denying that either. But to see each happen twice in a single night is a rarity.
In a mystifying, National-League record-setting (for a nine-inning game) four-hour-and-thirty minute contest, the Rockies were down, they were up, then they were down, then they were up, then finally they were downed. The final Arizona Diamondbacks 10, Colorado Rockies 9.
“We always feel like we got a chance when we get down,” Colorado Manger Walt Weiss said. “We’ve come back several times … we always feel like we can come back and win a game late.”
And it appeared the Rockies could do just that, scoring six in the last of the seventh and eighth to match Arizona’s six in the seventh and take back the lead. They really were remarkable, and they were “resilient” as well, somehow keeping themselves in a game where they had been outhit for a majority of. The home club took advantage of errors and played small ball proficiently because they weren’t getting the big blast or the supreme knock with RISP. The Rockies starting pitcher was as good as you can ask for out of a guy making his third big league start and second at Coors Field. In fact, Tyler Anderson was historically good, becoming the second pitcher in franchise history to pitch five or more innings and allow two or fewer runs in his first three career starts. (Jason Jennings was the other, Aug. 23-Sept. 3, 2001).
What in the world went wrong?
What always does.
If there are four facets of the game of baseball, (Offense, Defense, Starting Pitching and Relief Pitching) one is always broken on any given night with this club. Yes, the culture has improved within the organization that they do have the ability to fight back and be “resilient,” but how “resilient” can you be as a team if one of the four major areas of your club fails you on any given night? Sure, tonight it was obvious as the bullpen blew up, causing the Rockies to drop to an MLB-worst 5-11 in one-run games. But just as it has been all week when it comes time for Weiss to take his starter out of the game, the team collapses.
Surely it’s not in the hands of Weiss who has quite quietly skippered a club less talented than most to around .500 and made correct move after correct move tonight as he played the match-ups. Surely it is not in the leadership of this team as they do create a culture with this team that has been different than the attitudes of the teams in the past five years. The fact is, the Rockies offense failed them until the seventh inning as they started the evening 0-14 at the plate with RISP. In that seventh inning, the bullpen failed them as three of their more reliable arms got rocked for six runs. But so too did their defense not coming up with perfection that inning as a fielding error extended the inning briefly.
If the opposing team makes four errors, your team should capitalize and win. No, they need to win a game that might as well have been handed to them but, “Just not getting hits in some of those situations,” as Weiss said, cost the Rockies a win.
Yet this game was just as memorable as a flop as it was a fight for the Rockies.
“These guys are resilient,” Nick Hundley explained. “We’re resilient in here. You don’t play in a park like this and not be able to be resilient because the ebbs and flows of the game are a lot higher.”
Source: FanGraphs
BLOW BY BLOW (scoring recap):
It was shaping up to be a low-scoring affair as the D-Backs were held to just two runs in the first two innings despite obtaining five baserunners. Tyler Anderson kept the run total to a manageable amount as he held Arizona’s offense from really biting the Rockies. Anderson did a good enough job to keep the Rockies in it as they plated one in the third on a sacrifice fly and held serve with the Snakes through the middle innings.
In the sixth, the Rockies caught a very lucky break as a fielding and throwing error by Jake Lamb on the same play brought to Colorado runs across to give the Rockies a brief 3-2 lead.
But the DBacks got right back in the seventh plating six on five hits. A Lamb two-run triple and a Yasmany Tomas three-run homer put Arizona on top with an 8-3 lead. Each Miguel Castro, Boone Logan, and Jason Motte failed specularly. The Rockies lost a lead again Friday night, which has happened several times in the past week.
Not dead yet, the Rockies tried to wrangle the Diamondbacks late, scoring two to answer in the seventh cutting the lead to three. It looked all but meaningless at the time until the eighth.
Once again in the eighth, the club brought across a few. Well, more than a few. The club came back. A leadoff DJ LeMahieu double followed by one from Nolan Arenado cut the Arizona lead to two. Ryan Raburn walked, then Cristhian Adames kept the inning alive with a slick AB that ended in a single. Barnes made his way on base by another Lamb error and the table was set for CarGO who knocked in the go-ahead run.
Still it was not done as the D-Backs blew Carlos Estevez‘s save by way of Yasmany Tomas’ second homer of the game giving Arizona a 10-9 lead. The Rockies had a chance in the bottom half, but Rickie Weeks robbed what would’ve been a game-winning extra base knock off of Hundley’s bat.
HIGHLIGHTS:
We just wanted you to know @eltanquetomas completely decimated this pitch.https://t.co/631Vd1IASI
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 25, 2016
Speechless. https://t.co/eF2rx7JqIT
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 25, 2016
Quotes:
CarGo
It’s tough, it’s just another tough loss. You just gotta take it like another game you can get too down. We’re not too far from where we want to be and you know, just bad luck tonight.
I’ve been in the big moments before, I’ve been clutch in my career and you’re gonna fail a lot of times too. But what works for me is that failure can make you even better. I smile whenever I have an opportunity like tonight because yesterday it didn’t work but today it did work.
Walt Weiss
Hard to member at all, I know we fought back once again, lost a tough one. Lots of big hits on both sides, Tyler (Anderson) did a good job of minimizing the damage, a couple of tough innings for us. But guys keep fighting back.
WHAT’S AHEAD:
The Rockies continue their four-game home set against Arizona on Saturday with a 2:10 start as Jorge De La Rosa will face Shelby Miller. The Rockies play an afternoon start on Sunday as well and Troy Tulowitzki is back in town on Monday with the Toronto Blue Jays.
