Colorado Rockies struggle through yet another rain delay in loss to Marlins

DENVER -- The Colorado Rockies battled through yet another rain delay, but dropped the series opener against Miami, 6-2.

It was the eighth game delayed at Coors Field this season, with the delays lasting a total of 14 hours, 29 minutes. The Rockies have also had four games postponed so far in 2015, all of them at home.

"It's the worst," Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez said. "It seems like you always have to wait an hour, you lose your momentum, the fans leave, and you're on your own."

The delay in Friday's game lasted an hour and 55 minutes at the end of the seventh inning.

Rockies starter Eddie Butler was the victim of some poor command and quite a bit of bad luck, allowing six runs on 11 hits in 5⅓ innings, walking two and striking out three. However, at least half of the hits Butler allowed were bloops or seeing eye singles on fairly soft contact.

"It was kind of a weird outing," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "A lot of the hits had eyes, but the Marlins grinded out at bats and found grass out there."

The first inning was the best of Butler's young major league career, as he retired the Marlins in order on 12 pitches, including a 97 mile per hour fastball at the knees that caught Giancarlo Stanton looking to end the inning.

"Eddie had a good first inning, his stuff was electric there right out of the gate," Weiss said.

Miami got on the board first in the top of the second thanks to consecutive singles from Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto. A second run scored in the inning on a groundout from pitcher Tom Koehler, giving Miami a 2-0 lead.

The score was still 2-0 with one out in the third when Stanton crushed Butler's 1-1 pitch 478 feet into the left-center field stands for a solo home run, extending Miami's lead to 3-0. It was Stanton's 18th home run of the season and his eighth in 15 career games at Coors Field.

"I threw a good first pitch slider and went to back it up with another one and threw it right down the middle," Butler said. "That's what these guys are paid to do is hit mistakes."

For the fourth time in his career, Koehler frustrated Rockies hitters, scattering eight singles in seven innings of work, walking one and striking out six. Koehler now has a 1.93 ERA and 1.18 WHIP with 22 strikeouts in 28 innings in his four starts against the Rockies, three of which have come at Coors Field.

"We haven't quite figured him out," Weiss said of Koehler. "We've faced him a few times now and he commanded the ball well, good breaking ball."

The Rockies didn't have a hit against Koehler until Troy Tulowitzki's single with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, which was followed by a single by Carlos Gonzalez. However, both men were stranded when Nolan Arenado popped out for the third out of the inning.

Miami got a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth on a combined six hits, most of which were of the bloop variety, though there was a triple for Realmuto thrown in the mix. The Marlins led 6-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth. Realmuto's triple and Stanton's home run were really the only hard-hit balls against Butler in the game.

"Had some balls left up a bit and guys were able to get enough to flare it over (the infield)," Butler said.

The Rockies finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when Tulo's single brought home Charlie Blackmon who had singled himself earlier in the inning, cutting the Miami lead to 6-1.

The Rockies loaded the bases against Koehler with two outs in the seventh, but Blackmon grounded out to second for the third time in the game to end the threat.

Koehler was removed after the rain delay and reliever Vin Mazzaro gave up the Rockies' second run on a sacrifice fly by Arenado that scored Tulowitzki, who had singled earlier in the inning.

The Rockies tried to mount a challenge in the bottom of the ninth, but Marlins closer A.J. Ramos came on with two on and nobody out and shut the inning down to earn his sixth save.

The Rockies will look to even the series at 2:10 p.m. Mountain time tomorrow, with Chris Rusin taking the mound against David Phelps.

"We know how important it is to win here," Weiss said. "We've been playing better, but we need to finish this homestand well."