Rays 8, Rockies 3: The Machine is a little rusty

Three home runs were not enough to overcome a rusty pitching performance, a resurrection of the old Rosario, and a dearth of timely hitting.

Jhoulys Chacin gave up 6 runs (only 5 earned) in his seven innings of work in what was his worst outing of the year. He appeared to be a little rusty in the first inning, giving up three singles, a walk, and a wild pitch. He gave up a single to Desmond Jennings, followed by a four pitch walk to Matt Joyce, before getting Evan Longoria to fly out to right. James Loney's line drive single allowed the first run to score, while a wild pitch to Kelly Johnson and another line drive single allowed Joyce and Loney to score.

Chacin returned to form for the next several innings, allowing only one walk and two singles and inducing Evan Longoria to ground into a double play in the third. His ineffectiveness returned in the 6th inning. He allowed one run to score, then a passed ball committed by Wilin Rosario (his first of two of the day) put Loney and Johnson in scoring position, where they were able to score off of a Ryan Roberts double. Josh Outman allowed two more to score in the eighth.

A 3 home run day was not enough to win it in today's game against the Rays. All three were solo home runs off of Rays starter Alex Cobb. Michael Cuddyer and Troy Tulowitzki each hit their seventh home run of the year, while Nolan Arenado hit his third since his call up to the major leagues a week ago. In 33 plate appearances, he has struck out as many times as he has hit home runs and is slugging .667. However, the team was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

The Graph:

Source: FanGraphs

The Roll Call:

Rooting for the Dodgers makes me feel like a horrible person.