The Colorado Rockies lost a tough one to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night as they blew a lead late and then lost in extra innings on a walk-off home run.
Marcell Ozuna walks off
This game didn’t go Ozuna’s way for much of the night, with Gerardo Parra robbing him on defense in left field and Ozuna breaking his bat over his knee at one point. He got the last laugh, however, as he belted a Jake McGee pitch over the wall to give his team the 5-4 win in 10 innings.
Walks will haunt
Staked to a four-run lead, Tyler Anderson looked poised to finish off another gem. Unfortunately his command betrayed him in the bottom of the seventh inning as he walked the first three batters to load the bases. Scott Oberg kept the walk train going by giving the Cardinals a free second run before Matt Carpenter tied up the game with a two-run single.
These are the meltdowns that the Rockies pitching staff has avoided lately, so hopefully this disappointing showing is just a bad night and they can bounce back Tuesday.
Nolan Arenado grand slam
It was a strange sequence of events that led to an Arenado at-bat with the bases loaded. Carlos Martinez exited the game with an apparent injury after giving up a single to Charlie Blackmon. Reliever Daniel Poncedeleon was thrust into a tough situation as he faced Ian Desmond with two outs and runners at the corners.
Whether by design or by bad execution, Poncedeleon didn’t challenge Desmond with much over the plate. Desmond laid off some spinning pitches and that meant Arenado would bat with the bases loaded.
Whether by design or by bad execution, Poncedeleon did challenge Arenado with a fastball over the heart. The Rockies superstar didn’t miss it. Unfortunately it didn’t hold up as the decisive blow in a win, but we can still enjoy a good Nolan highlight.
Bases loaded. Bases cleared. #NolanBeingNolan pic.twitter.com/EUNTj8APFY
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) July 31, 2018
Looking ahead
The Rockies play the Cardinals again on Tuesday with Jon Gray on the mound opposite Jack Flaherty.