On a day full of celebration at the unveiling of Larry Walker’s new statue outside Coors Field, the Rockies could not keep up the excitement inside.
It was the Rockies’ ninth-straight loss at home — the first time it’d happened since 1993 at Mile High Stadium, and the first time it’d happened at Coors Field — and they were officially swept in three-straight series for the first time in franchise history. It was also their sixth-straight loss, period, marking the third time in club history that they have gone 0-6 or worse in a homestand (first time since Sept. 15-21 against San Francisco and San Diego). The starting pitchers ran up their pitch counts early, but the Rockies’ offense was missing as they couldn’t drive in anyone after the second inning.
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However, on a positive note, they did not allow a home run for the first time since August 2 against Kansas City.
Early pitching woes (for both teams!)
Today was another day to forget for Tomoyuki Sugano. After only having outings of fewer than five innings three times in his previous 22 starts, today tied the right-hander’s shortest career start. Sugano tossed just three innings — which happened twice last September — and allowed five runs on nine hits with one walk and two strikeouts. He threw a career-high 45 pitches in the first inning, which was also the most by any Rockies starter in the first inning this season (Michael Lorenzen threw 44 against the Phillies in his Coors Field debut).
Sugano went out for a second inning, where he threw 26 more pitches. The 71 pitches through two innings were the most by any pitcher in MLB this season. He was finally lifted after the third inning after throwing 92 pitches.
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“I thought it was similar to the last outing a little bit, in terms of [getting] behind in counts early,” manager Warren Schaeffer said after the game. “I think you combine that with how that team takes at-bats, and you compound the behind in counts, foul balls — tons of foul balls today — pitch count — the pitch count ran up heavily in the first inning, over 40. And then pretty much the same thing in the second. I mean, [Sugano] threw 91 pitches in three innings. Good for him going back out for the third, being able to do that and save our ‘pen one extra inning, but it was just a tough day for Tomo. Tomo has been so good for us, but it just didn’t happen today. [He] didn’t feel it.”
That said, things didn’t look much better for Foster Griffin. Griffin got off to a quick start by throwing 10 pitches, but then threw 47 in the second. The 130 combined pitches through two innings were the second-most in any game this season. But he came back with a quick third inning with just one hit, aided by a Willi Castro TOOTBLAN, and got a 1-2-3 fourth. Griffin was lifted after five innings, after allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
The big story of the early innings, though, was foul balls. It got started early with a Chase DeLauter 10-pitch at-bat as the second batter of the game that turned into an RBI triple. There were 11 foul balls in the top of the first, and 41 total through the first two innings combined — nine more than the next closest game.
By the time the game ended, there had been an MLB record 94 foul balls.
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Bullpenning!
The Rockies bullpen was kicked off by Mark Manfredi in the fourth inning. He got Steven Kwan to go down on strikes, but gave up another triple to DeLauter — his second of the game. He struck out Jo Adell, but then a single by Nathaniel Lowe scored DeLauter to run up the score 6-2.
Jimmy Herget entered for the fifth, and got Travis Bazzana to ground out to second. Angel Martínez walked, but then Austin Hedges grounded into a double play. But then things got weird in the sixth when Herget was bitten or stung by some sort of flying insect to kick things off. However, he was able to continue, facing four batters and only walking DeLauter. He threw 35 total pitches, but both of his innings were scoreless.
“It was a bee sting right on his elbow,” Schaeffer said. “It was unbelievable, right on the UCL! But he’s fine.”
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Jaden Hill came in for the seventh, and threw just 10 pitches to get Lowe, Angel Genao and Bazzana out.
Nick Frasso came in for the eighth, and ran into some traffic. He struck out Martínez, but a wild pitch allowed him to reach and then he stole second. Hedges singled, and then Brayan Rocchio hit a sac fly to score Martínez. But then Kwan grounded out and DeLauter flew out.
Jordan Romano entered in the ninth, and pitched a 1-2-3 inning on 16 pitches.
Offense: MIA
The Rockies offense has been struggling as of late, and that didn’t change this afternoon. They managed seven hits, but only two came around to score in the second inning.
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After Mickey Moniak struck out, the Rockies had three-straight baserunners — Connor Norby walked, Jordan Beck singled and Brett Sullivan doubled to score Norby. Then, recently-recalled Ryan Ritter grounded out, allowing Beck to score. Ezequiel Tovar drew a four-pitch walk, then Jake McCarthy drew a walk after being down 0-2. Unfortunately, Cole Carrigg lost an 11-pitch battle to end the inning, the threat and the scoring.
In the third, Castro led off with a double, but then Moniak struck out again. Castro was then caught stealing, but Norby singled to make up for him. According to Larry Walker, who was in the booth in the third inning, that’s something that happens often! Beck was then called out on strikes to end the threat.
After a 1-2-3 fourth, McCarthy singled to lead off the fifth. But then Carrigg, Castro and Moniak all ran into outs. Norby struck out to start the sixth, but pinch-hitter Troy Johnston did smack a double in his first at-bat of the afternoon. Unfortunately, he was stranded by Sullivan and pinch-hitter TJ Rumfield.
Tovar singled to start the seventh, but the final nine Rockies were sat down in order to end the game.
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Up Next
The Rockies head east to face the 61-71 Washington Nationals for four games. Ryan Feltner (5-7, 5.97 ERA) is set to take the ball for the Rox against Nats’ right-hander Cade Cavalli (11-5, 3.22 ERA). First pitch is at 4:45 pm MT.
See you then!
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