The Colorado Rockies rallied from a 7-0 deficit but couldn't finish the job in extra innings, falling 9-8 to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night at Coors Field.
Pittsburgh scored the winning run off of Rockies reliever Carlos Estevez with two outs in the top of the 12th inning when Jody Mercer doubled home Gregory Polanco, who drew a one-out walk a couple of batters earlier. The ending was disappointing for the Rockies, but to even be in that position after how the game started was nothing short of miraculous.
Jon Gray got his second start of the season and looked very poor, needing 96 pitches to get through just 3 2/3 innings. He was charged for six earned runs on nine hits and a walk against two strikeouts in what was a disappointing showing.
The Pirates put the first run on the board in the second inning on a questionable call. With one out and runners on the corners, Jordy Mercer hit a grounder to Trevor Story who turned and threw to DJ LeMahieu. The latter appeared to have been interfered with by Josh Harrison, who over-slid the base which, according to the rules about such things, should've resulted in two outs and gotten the Rockies out of the inning. Instead, despite a challenge from Walt Weiss, the slide was ruled legal and Cervelli crossed home for the Pirates' first run.
The visitors tacked on three more in the third and another in the fourth, prompting Weiss to replace Jon Gray with Eddie Butler. Gray's replacement didn't fare much better upon entering, allowing two straight hits and two runners to score before finally getting the Rockies out of the inning. Butler pitched well thereafter though, going 2 1/3 innings and striking out four while allowing no additional hits.
Despite being held scoreless for the first three innings, the Rockies showed some life in the fourth with a four-run rally that cut the Pirates lead to just three runs. Who else but Story started things off with a leadoff solo homer, giving him nine on the year. That's the second most by a rookie through the end of April ever, behind only Jose Abreu. Nolan Arenado hit his ninth of the year and has been excellent as always. Raburn later tripled home Mark Reynolds before scoring on DJ LeMahieu's single.
The Rockies threatened again in the fifth, loading the basis with one out and pinch hitting Adames for Butler, prompting the Pirates to go to the bullpen and bring in Ryan Vogelsong. Adames grounded into a force out that scored Raburn to cut the deficit to two.
The Pirates struck back for one in the seventh on Polanco's homer off of Justin Miller, extending their lead to three. That lead, however, would be short lived as Reynolds hit a monster two-run homer in the seventh to bring the score to 8-7. Parra evened the score in the eighth, hitting a solo shot to center and completing the rally -- taking Gray off the hook in the process.
The Rockies couldn't rally a second time in the 12th inning. LeMahieu and Tony Wolters drew consecutive one-out walks, but Parra grounded out and Story struck out looking on a pitch off the plate inside.