The Rockies continued their offensive rut against the Cubs on Monday night. Their pitching did just fine on the road against a tough Chicago lineup; unfortunately the bats came up short again in a low-scoring 3-2 loss.
Kyle Freeland shines
I want to stall before we talk about the no-good very-bad offense again. Freeland threw a gem on the road against one of the best teams in the National League. He had occasional trouble with his command, costing him those three runs. That’s going to happen, and he fought back each time and went seven strong innings.
He should be able to give up three and not get tagged with a loss. With that, we can talk about the offense again.
Missed opportunities
The Rockies had some traffic against Jon Lester. They even had a trace of a two-out rally in the fifth inning after Charlie Blackmon flared a single and Nolan Arenado smoked a double to score a couple. Unfortunately that rally ended when Chris Iannetta was a little too patient and struck out looking. They had another opportunity with two men on for Ian Desmond. This will shock you, but he rolled over a groundball to end the threat as part of an 0-5 night in which he left five runners on base.
The biggest gut punch came in the ninth inning. The Rockies got two men on for Arenado. He struck out swinging. Baseball can sure be mean.
It’s broken
Ian Desmond batted leadoff tonight. Chris Iannetta batted fifth. Gerardo Parra batted sixth. And so on. The Rockies continue to rely on the same guys, and the same guys are failing to get the job done in the middle of these poor offensive showings.
Sticking with guys so they can get going is one thing, but it’s not unreasonable to think we are approaching the point where it would be nice to see the Rockies adapt and shake things up in the lineup. Let’s start small and say that David Dahl plays every day. Period. If nothing else, their pitchers certainly deserve better than this.
Looking ahead
The Rockies will try once again to get their offense on track as they continue their series with the Cubs on Tuesday. Jon Gray will start opposite Kyle Hendricks.