Royals 14, Rockies 10: I thought we were supposed to be good at home?

It was long, it was ugly, and it was stupid. Both teams played sloppy baseball but it ended up haunting the Colorado Rockies the most as they fell to the Kansas City Royals 14-10. The Rockies fall to an even .500 on the season in what should have been a rebound at home after a miserable road trip.

Freeland isn't Free

Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland had a tough night against a Royals offense that seemed to be seeing everything he threw. Freeland lasted just 4 ⅔ innings while getting rocked for eight runs (six earned) on 12 hits and two walks. He failed to strike out a single Royals batter on the night. He did induce multiple double plays, but gave up multiple runs in the first, third, and fifth innings. With the Royals up 8-3 in the top of the fifth inning, Freeland was pulled for Jhoulys Chacín. It was his shortest outing since the home opener back on April 8th (vs LAD, 3 ⅔ innings).

Ugly and Sloppy

There's no mistaking that the Rockies played ugly baseball tonight. The pitching gave up 14 runs and a staggering 18 hits. Defensive miscues continue to haunt the infield. Brendan Rodgers and Ryan McMahon both had errors during the game, and a whopping six of the 14 runs given up by the Rockies were unearned. Even then, the pitching tonight was abysmal. Not only did Kyle Freeland get knocked around, but the bullpen did as well. Alex Colomé pitched AJ agonizingly long seventh inning where he gave up four unearned runs on four hits. Carlos Estévez was pitching well until he gave up a two run home run in the eighth. The Rockies only had three 1-2-3 innings: one by Kyle Freeland, one by Jhoulys Chacín, and one by Ty Blach.

The Offense Came to Play (but it wasn't enough)

The Rockies scored 10 runs on 13 hits for their return to Coors Field, but it wasn't enough to overcome bad pitching and sloppy defense. The bats did a good job keeping pace after every ugly inning. Rockies gave up two in the first? Well then they'll put up three in the second. Royals score six? Rockies score four. Even in the eighth inning–down by four runs–the Rockies loaded the bases with Brendan Rodgers representing the tying run with two outs. He hit it hard, he hit it loud, but it couldn't leave the stadium. Rodgers had an excellent night, going 3-for-5 with two doubles, four RBIs and a two run home run. Sam Hilliard went 2-for-4 and finally uncorked his first home run of the season. CJ Cron went 3-for-5 with a double. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough.

Coming up next

The second of this three game series comes tomorrow night. Germán Márquez will look to improve on his last outing while facing off against Royals righty Carlos Hernández. First pitch is at 6:10 PM MDT.