There was no full moon, but it was a strange night at Coors Field Monday as the Rockies lost, 6-1, to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The strangeness started in the bottom of the second inning when a sudden deluge caused a half-hour rain delay with Rockies starter Chad Bettis at the plate. After the delay, Bettis made the last out of the inning on a push bunt that went foul, leaving the score at 0-0.
Home plate umpire Lance Barrett must have had a hot date after the game because his strike zone was cavernous. The Rockies struck out looking four times in the first four innings, prompting manager Walt Weiss to express his displeasure, resulting in his ejection from the game.
A run was finally scored in the top of the fifth when Josh Harrison was hit by a Bettis pitch and came around to score on an RBI groundout by John Jaso and his hippie dreadlocks, giving Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
In the sixth, Barrett's giant strike zone struck again as he rung up Ryan Raburn on a pitch more suited to be hit by Jordan Spieth and then ejected the Rockies' left fielder, but amazingly not interim manager Tom Runnells, who argued with Barrett and neither-crew-chief-nor-home-plate-umpire Bob Davidson for a good five minutes.
Pittsburgh added more in the seventh when a Bettis wild pitch brought home Gregory Polanco and was pulled from the game a batter later. Reliever Scott Oberg then came in and promptly served up a three-run home run to Matt Joyce, giving the Pirates a 5-0 lead
Each team got a run late, as Gerardo Parra brought home DJ LeMahieu on a force out and Josh Harrison plated Polanco with a single to bring the game to its 6-1 final.
The Rockies will look to snap their three-game losing streak tomorrow as Jorge De La Rosa takes on Gerrit Cole.