On June 29, Jon Gray beat Clayton Kershaw in a 5-3 game at Coors Field, giving the Rockies their second straight win over the Dodgers and moving them to 44-39, leading the NL Wild Card race. In the six weeks since, the wheels have completely fallen off, as Saturday’s 8-5 loss to the Padres dropped the Rockies to 8-26 in that stretch, a run of futility surpassed only by the Tigers, who are 8-28 in that time span.
Saturday’s loss was brightened a bit by a home run from Nolan Arenado, who was one of two Rockies with multi-hit games, along with Trevor Story.
Alonso hits one Yonder
The Rockies clawed back from a 5-2 deficit with a run in the sixth and two in the seventh. The two runs to tie the game came from a Chris Iannetta double and this two-run, pinch hit home run from Yonder Alonso against Padres reliever Craig Stammen:
Yonder over where? Yonder over there! pic.twitter.com/OclAnHzLln
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 11, 2019
Eighth inning meltdown
The game was tied, 5-5, headed to the bottom of the eighth, but that was where things came unraveled for the Rockies bullpen. Jairo Diaz started the inning by walking Hunter Renfroe and giving up a two-run home run to Manuel Margot before being removed in favor of Jake McGee.
McGee didn’t fare much better than his predecessor on the mound, giving up a solo home run to Wil Myers and a triple to Fernando Tatis Jr., who he did manage to strand on third base. However, the damage was done, as the Rockies trailed 8-5 and did not manage to rally against Padres closer Kirby Yates.
Looking ahead
The Rockies will look to salvage a game in the series and avoid an 0-6 road trip tomorrow, with German Márquez taking the mound against Dinelson Lamet. First pitch is scheduled for 1:40 p.m. Mountain time.