A tale of two outings
Chi Chi González and Eric Lauer had two very different days. González struggled from the first inning, allowing two runs in each of the first two innings to put the Rockies in a quick 4-0 hole. He then allowed two more runs - one in the fourth and one in the sixth before he was lifted - to make it 6-0, and looking like the game may be nearing an inevitable inclusion. Lauer, meanwhile, cruised from the start and allowed just three baserunners through five. The left-hander has struggled mightily at Coors Field in the past, and it seemed this would be the outing to finally quell those mile-high demons. Or so he thought...
Huge sixth sparks rally
After being kept silent all game, the Rockies offense finally broke through in the sixth inning, and made up for lost time. Raimel Tapia’s leadoff single broke a streak of 10 straight hitters retired by Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer, and this hit was followed by Yonathan Daza’s second homer of the season to make it 6-2. After a brief mound visit, Trevor Story launched a titanic blast for his sixth of the year (and first in almost a month). A pitching change was made to bring in Zack Godley in relief of Lauer, but there was no relief to be had as Charlie Blackmon singled and C.J. Cron homered to make it 6-5. Joshua Fuentes then tied the game with his own solo shot before the inning was finally finished.
The streaks continue
In that eventful sixth inning, Colorado saw three different hitting streaks advance: those of Trevor Story, Yonathan Daza, and Raimel Tapia. Story and Daza’s home runs boosted their consecutive games with a hit to seven and nine respectively, while Raimel’s single pushed his to 17. Tapia has 34 hits in that span.
Bard falters - Brewers take advantage
Sunday’s game was decided in the same inning the last few have - the pivotal ninth. As Daniel Bard came in to try to keep the game tied, Jace Pederson led off with a base hit to center, then stole second with one out. Dan Vogelbach then sent a liner to right, which was gathered by Blackmon and thrown on a line to home plate. The ball appeared to beat Pederson to the plate, but catcher Dom Núñez was unable to handle the throw and Pederson was able to score the go-ahead run, 7-6. Unfortunately, though the Rockies did manage to bring the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, they were unable to capitalize and split the series with Milwaukee, finishing the homestand with a 5-2 record.
Up Next
After a day off on Monday, the Rockies will travel to Seattle to do battle with the Mariners. Kyle Freeland (0-2, 9.58 ERA) will try to shore up his recent difficulties as he duels Chris Flexen (6-3, 4.12 ERA).
First pitch is 8:10 MDT. See you then!