Sim Padres 9, Sim Rockies 8: Epic bullpen collapse dooms Rox

It finally seemed to be the game where the Sim Rockies were gonna break out. David Dahl, Charlie Blackmon, and Nolan Arenado all had multi-hit games and Tony Wolters and Trevor Story each had one. Chi Chi González was dealing through the first three innings, but then started to falter a little bit in the fourth. The Rockies were up 8-2 in the seventh inning. Unfortunately, that didn’t last and they ended up falling to the Padres 9-8 in a game that was eerily reminiscent of those infamous games last June.

Chi Chi González looked really solid

Chi Chi González was absolutely dealing for most of his start! Through the first three innings, he had two 1-2-3 innings. He gave up back-to-back four pitch walks to start off the fourth as well as a two-run ground rule double to Manny Machado, but he finished strong. Chi Chi pitched 5 ¹⁄₃ innings, 2 H, 2 ER, 5 K, 4 BB. His 2.75 ERA is second lowest amongst SimRockies starters.

Chi Chi was lifted in the sixth inning for Carlos Estévez, who came in and immediately struck out Manny Machado and Wil Myers (always a good at-bat when Wil Myers gets out). That was about the end of the good pitching for the Rox. More on that later.

Finally some offense!

The Sim Rockies had been in a bit of a slump to start off the season, particularly Trevor Story, Ian Desmond, Raimel Tapia, and Garrett Hampson. Now, Tapia and Hampson have a combined 20 at-bats so there’s not much to read into there. Desmond started off hot but has since cooled off, whereas David Dahl has done the opposite. Dahl had two hits in last night’s game — a single and a double. The big RBI’s came off the bats of Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon. Arenado had two home runs, including a three-run shot in the seventh, and Blackmon had a home run and an RBI sacrifice fly. Tony Wolters had an RBI single in his first at-bat back from the Injured List, and Daniel Murphy hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Murphy also hit his sixth double on the season in the seventh. The Sim Rockies offense absolutely exploded in this game! Unfortunately, the bullpen imploded and they lost anyway.

What the bullpen just happened?

Carlos Estévez came in for the seventh and got Brian Dozier to fly out to center to lead things off. However, he then gave up back-to-back solo homers to 2020 SimRockies killer Francisco Mejía and pinch hitter Josh Naylor. The Mejía homer was his fourth of the year and third against the Sim Rockies, and the Naylor homer was his first of 2020.

8-4 Sim Rockies. Enter Wade Davis.

Davis started off his appearance by hitting Juan Lagares. However, he came back and struck out Eric Hosmer. An infield single by Tommy Pham set up Fernando Tatís Jr. to get the RBI.

8-5 Sim Rockies. Enter James Pazos.

Pazos came in and got Manny Machado to pop to the pitcher 1-3. He started off the eighth inning, but the wheels kept falling off for this poor bullpen. He kept Myers 0-for-4 with a swinging strikeout, but gave Brian Dozier his first double as a Padre. Mejía then got an RBI single and pinch hitter Jurickson Profar walked.

8-6 Sim Rockies. Enter Jairo Díaz.

Díaz ended up finishing the game for the Sim Rockies, but not without giving up more runs. Juan Lagares got his first hit of the game, an RBI single to score Mejía. Hosmer was able to reach base after Murphy overthrew Ryan McMahon to tie up the ballgame at eight runs apiece. A single by Pham was the nail in the coffin, but at least the Rockies were able to turn a 3-4-3 double play to end the inning.

For those of you counting at home, that’s seven unanswered runs that the Sim Padres scored to beat the Sim Rockies.

9-8 Sim Padres. Final.

Game audio

Once again we only have game audio due to some technical difficulties, but Ben Kouchnerkavich kills it on the mic as always! Hopefully we’ll have some video action for you all again soon, but in the meantime, check out the audio here.

Up Next

Hopefully the Sim Rockies aren’t too hard on themselves and are able to bounce back tonight and get a win. The Gray Wolf will be on the hill for the Rox against Padres’ lefty Joey Lucchesi. See you at 8:15pm MT!