Well, it wasn’t the Rockies night on Wednesday. After a solid win against the Astros on Tuesday night, the Rockies were no match against Houston’s bats and Gerrit Cole’s brilliance on the mound on Wednesday. The final score was 12-1, and it was over well before the ninth inning.
That first inning
The first inning pretty much set the tone for the whole night. Gerrit Cole struck out the side in the top half of the inning—three of his 12 strikeouts on the night—and in the bottom half the Astros scored three runs before Tyler Anderson was able to record an out. Anderson was able to get out of the inning without allowing any more runs, but he allowed three more in the second and another in the third. The 7-0 deficit after three innings felt insurmountable with Cole on the mound. And no, the Rockies did not surmount it.
Other notes
Other than the shellacking, there wasn’t much else going on. Nolan Arenado had two hits, both singles (just like all five of the Rockies’ hits). One of Arenado’s singles came after he dodged an up and in fastball that was called a swinging strike. Nolan didn’t like the call, and he made sure first base umpire Vic Carapazza knew it when he arrived at first.
The other interesting tidbits were defensive replacements. Garret Hampson got some playing time in center field. He replaced Charlie Blackmon in the sixth. Also, Tony Wolters entered the game in left field in the seventh.
Up next
The Rockies will travel to Atlanta for a four-game series against the first place Braves. Game one is Thursday, and it will see Jon Gray face Julio Teheran. First pitch is scheduled for 5:35 MT.