Somewhere, Hideo Nomo breathed a sigh of relief. His legacy as the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter at Coors Field lives on.
But right-hander Frankie Montas gave it his best shot Tuesday night in the Reds’ 4-1 win over the Rockies.
Montas took his no-no into the seventh before Colorado catcher Elias Diaz led off with a line-drive double to left-center. No biggie for Montas. He kept the Rockies off the board by getting Brendan Rodgers to fly out, striking out Elehuris Montero, and coaxing Brenton Doyle to ground out to third.
“He did a really good job mixing (pitches) and staying out of the heart of the plate,” Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “He did a good job of keeping it up and when a guy is throwing 97 (mph) it’s tough to cover.
“The thing I struggled with, and what I thought I saw some of my teammates struggle with, was that he was changing the shape of his slider. He would throw his cutter, he would throw a bigger slider, and he would throw a normal one. They would come out looking pretty similar, so you have to tip your cap to him.”
For those unaware, Nomo, the Dodgers’ right-hander, tossed the first of his two career no-nos on Sept 17, 1996, on a cold, rainy night in LoDo.
Montas became the fourth opposing pitcher in Coors Field history to toss at least seven scoreless innings with one or fewer hits allowed, joining Houston’s Roy Oswalt (nine innings, one hit on Sept. 6, 2008), Nomo, and Miami’s Pat Rapp (nine innings, one hit, on Sept. 17, 1995). But Montas is the first member of that club to strike out nine batters.
On a perfect late-spring night, the Reds won for the eighth time in their last 11 games and clinched the three-game series by winning the first two games. It’s the first time Cincy has won a series in Colorado since May 30 to June 2, 2016.
Montas entered Tuesday’s game with a 4-2 and a 4.60 ERA. But he pitched like an ace against the offensively challenged Rockies, who lost their fourth consecutive game — a streak of futility in which they have scored five runs.
“It happens,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “These last four games, we haven’t swung the bats great, and we have pitched good enough to hang in there — except for last night. It’s a little bit of a mini-bad stretch here. We have to come out of it.”
Over seven scoreless innings, Montas allowed one hit, walked two and struck out nine. He set down the first 11 hitters he faced, not yielding a base runner until the fourth inning when McMahon coaxed a walk on a 3-2 count. But Montas whiffed Diaz for the third out.
Colorado actually got a runner into scoring position against Montas in the fifth. Speedy center fielder Brenton Doyle reached on a fielding error by third baseman Jeimer Candelario. When Candelario compounded his first error by throwing the ball past first base, Doyle advanced to second. But Montas got No. 9 hitter Hunter Goodman to fly out to right.
Colorado broke up the shutout in the ninth. Diaz hit a two-out single and Brendan Rodgers drove Diaz home with a double off right-hander Buck Farmer.
Colorado veteran left-hander Ty Blach seemed to have the advantage at first pitch. He entered the game with an excellent track record at home this season, going 2-1 with a 3.42 ERA in his four starts at Coors, including quality starts in his last two outings. And while the Reds never had a haymaker inning vs. Blach, they landed plenty of punches, tagging Blach for four runs on 10 hits over five innings.
“They chipped away at him,” Black said. “Ty’s best games are when he’s able to locate that fastball on the inside corner. He did a few times, and he broke some bats, but he missed a little bit inside, where he’s usually pretty fine.”
Cincinnati opened the game by playing small ball. Stuart Fairchild led off the game with a perfect bunt down the third-base line and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Elly De La Cruz. Spencer Steer’s double off the right-field wall scored Fairchild.
De La Cruz launched a mammoth two-out solo homer off Blach in the third, blasting Blach’s 3-2 sinker 448 feet into the forest beyond the center-field wall.
Cincy made it a 4-0 ballgame in the fourth, capitalizing on Tyler Stephenson’s leadoff double, Blach’s plunking of Yonathan India, and run-scoring singles by Luke Maile and Fairchild.
Blach disagreed with Black’s performance assessment, at least a little bit.
“I thought I threw the ball inside, maybe better today,” he said. “But I thought there were a couple of pitches today that came back over the plate that got hit. The (pitch) to De La Cruz I was trying to go in and it was middle (of the plate).”
Wednesday’s pitching matchup
Reds RHP Graham Ashcraft (4-3, 4.76 ERA) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (2-7, 5.02)
1:10 p.m. Wednesday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Hudson is fresh off his best start in a Rockies uniform. Facing the powerful Dodgers in Los Angeles, he allowed one run over seven innings. It was his longest outing since he pitched seven innings Sept. 1 against Pittsburgh as a member of the Cardinals. Hudson will make his 13th career appearance vs. the Reds. He’s pitched very well against them, going 7-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 12 games (11 starts). He shined in his last start vs. the Reds (Sept. 17, 2022), allowing one run on seven hits with five strikeouts over a career-high eight innings.
Ashcraft last pitched in the Reds’ 5-4 win over the Cubs last Friday at Wrigley Field, tossing 4 2/3 innings and allowing three runs. He struck out two, walked two and hit two batters. Last year, the right-hander led the Reds in innings pitched (145 2/3), starts (26) and quality starts (15). He’s faced the Rockies just once, at Coors Field on May 17 of last season. Cincy lost 11-6, and Ashcraft gave up seven runs on 10 hits over five innings.
Pitching probables
Thursday: Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (4-4, 3.84) at Cardinals RHP Sonny Gray (7-3, 3.00), 5:35 p.m.
Friday: Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (1-3, 3.06) at Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (2-3, 3.23), 6:15 p.m.
— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.
