DENVER — It wasn’t much of a contest Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, as the Brewers beat the Rockies 7-3. Milwaukee scored six runs off of Jon Gray, and Freddy Peralta dominated Rockies hitters over 52⁄3 innings. The Rockies’ season record falls to 22-19.
Those pitching lines
Starters Jon Gray and Freddy Peralta both had pretty distinct pitching lines. Gray pitched the 21st game for a starter that included six innings or less while striking out at least 10 batters and giving up at least 10 hits.
“I feel like I had good stuff today,” Gray said. “Just didn’t locate very well. Just felt like I couldn’t command my fastball when I went in it was off (the plate) for a ball and we fell behind, so command was probably the biggest issue.”
It’s tough to say he wasn’t fooling anybody because of all the strikeouts, but the Brewers hit him hard when they did make contact.
“I felt like things were a lot sharper than usual, mainly breaking balls,” Gray said.
They weren’t all hit as hard as Travis Shaw’s third inning home run, mostly because they didn’t all land in the second deck in right-center field, but the Brewers bats were loud.
Peralta also pitched less than six innings, but he struck out 13 batters and allowed just one hit. As far as my Play Index skills are concerned, he’s the first player to do that. That’s probably because players who strike out that many and allow so few hits tend to pitch more than six innings, but still. Peralta also approached the major-league record for strikeouts in a debut, which is 15.
Hole-y bats
It’s not just that a guy making his major-league debut struck out a bunch of players, but it’s who he struck out. DJ LeMahieu, Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, and Trevor Story combined to go 0-12 with 11 strikeouts against Peralta (Ian Desmond went hitless but at least he didn’t strike out!).
“We have to make sure that those strikeout totals come down,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “It’s not something we’re going to stand for as we move forward.”
David Dahl’s real, and he’s spectacular
Not only did Dahl get the only hit against Peralta, a hard hit single, but he also hit an eighth inning home run against (lefty!) Dan Jennings to the deepest part of center field.
“I’m getting there,” Dahl said. “Just gotta keep playing and hope I can really get in a groove.”
Play that man every day, Rockies.
Dahl to dead center! pic.twitter.com/4XbpRDohuJ
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 13, 2018
What’s next
The Rockies kick off a nine-game west coast road trip tomorrow that will bring them to San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The first game against San Diego is Monday at 8:05 MT.