The Colorado Rockies’ struggles continued on Wednesday night in a 5-0 loss at the hands of the Seattle Mariners. The dreaded Road Offense combined with some outstanding work from Mariners pitchers gave the Rockies their first three-game losing streak since April 25-27 as they were shut out for the sixth time of the season. That’s a concerning number after being shutout only five times total in the 2016 season.
The Mariners got on the board first with three runs on four hits in the second inning, highlighted by a pair of doubles from Danny Valencia and Mike Zunino. In the fifth inning, the Mariners pushed another run across on an RBI single from Ben Gamel after a pair of walks and a balk by Rockies’ starter Antonio Senzatela. Gamel drove in another run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
It was an uneven outing for Senzatela. He allowed four runs (all earned) on five hits in five innings of work, but he also struck out seven with only two walks. It’s great to see the swings and misses, but there were also some very hard hit balls off the 22-year-old righty who’s still developing.
Meanwhile, James Paxton was terrific in his return from the disabled list for the Mariners. He threw 51⁄3 shutout innings in which he allowed just three singles, didn’t walk a batter, and struck out six. He was consistently working from 96-98 mph with his fastball and looked dominant in lowering his ERA on the season to 1.26. He would have gone deeper into the game, but was limited to only 74 pitches in his first start since May 2.
After Paxton, the Rockies were still unable to get anything going. Steve Cishek, James Pazos, and Nick Vincent combined to shut the Rockies out while allowing just one hit (a fly ball that was lost in the lights) over the final 32⁄3 innings of the ballgame. For the Rockies, Jordan Lyles allowed a run on three hits in 11⁄3 innings of work while Mike Dunn and Carlos Estevez combined for 12⁄3 innings of scoreless relief with a strikeout apiece.
The loss for the Rockies dropped them to 33-22 on the year, while the Mariners improved to 25-29. The two clubs wrap up four straight games against one another on Thursday afternoon. Kyle Freeland takes the ball for the Rockies against Yovani Gallardo for the Mariners. First pitch is scheduled for 1:40 pm mountain time.