When Lawrence Peter Berra uttered one of his many humorous malapropisms, “It’s déjà vu all over again,” major league baseball in Colorado existed purely as a pipe dream.
His witticism certainly should be applied to the events at Coors Field this weekend and, perhaps, that of the last few weekends. Though Sunday’s affair started on the right note for the purple pinstripers, it’s what occurred nearly every inning thereafter that made this another odd one.
The Cincinnati Reds continued to play resiliently; their bullpen quieted the Rockies’ bats and their hitters brutalized Colorado’s pitching. In an effort to change the dialogue of frustrating results at home, Bud Black looked to his best and most reliable reliever: Scott Oberg.
Oberg came on for the two-inning hold at a time in which the Rockies’ season practically hangs in the balance. He put away the first four batters and though José Iglesias would single, Wolters sent him back to the dugout on the attempted dash with a 2-4 caught stealing.
Wade Davis recorded a one-two-three 9th for his 14th save, the second in three nights against Cincinnati. The fact that the final out came against former Dodgers’ pariah Yasiel Puig on a diving stab by Nolan Arenado is the icing on the cake.
Antonio Senzatela put Colorado in place for the series win with a scoreless first as it allowed his squad to get ahead early behind five hits and four runs in the bottom of the opening frame. Raimel Tapia led off the spree with a double, but wouldn’t score until the two-out rally began with Ian Desmond’s single. Ryan McMahon doubled to drive home two more; he scored on Tony Wolters’ line drive single the other way.
The Reds immediately responded with four of their own. Aided by an error from David Dahl in right field and an inning-ending third out that evaded Daniel Murphy’s reach, scoring two in the process, the NL Central’s worst club did not throw in the towel.
Senzatela settled down and retired seven straight hitters before plunking Nick Senzel in the fifth, raising the ire of the rookie. Cooler head’s prevailed and thought Senza put down the next three in order, the Reds manufactured a run in the process.
The Rockies batted around for another big inning, retorting for six runs when Murphy notched a two-run double, scoring on Ryan McMahon’s triple. Wolters’ added his second RBI single of the game and Hampson followed with one of his own, eventually scoring from second base on a routine ground ball. “Those are things that make winning players,” Black said of the rookie’s aggressive base running.
It turned out that the Rockies needed every one of those insurance runs, especially Hampson’s game-winner.
Then the game began to completely resemble Saturday’s when Colorado could not hold the five-run lead. Another misplayed ball in the outfield led to yet another triple that started a four-run rally for the Redlegs, putting them down only a run thanks to José Peraza’s first career pinch-hit home run off newly-inserted Jesus Tinoco.
With four games against the San Francisco Giants at home over the next three days, it’s the Rockies final shot to take advantage of play against sub-.500 teams before heading to New York for a reunion of sorts against several notable Yankees players.
