The Rockies sure know how to spoil a good thing.
Friday night at Coors Field they received a stellar start from Kyle Freeland and a highlight reel catch from rookie center fielder Brenton Doyle.
Naturally, they lost to Arizona, 9-1, sliding to 8-19 overall and 3-8 at home.
“Our guy threw well. He threw well enough to win the game, ” manager Bud Black said.
Black could say that about a lot of his starters in recent days. Over the last eight games, Colorado’s rotation has a 3.32 ERA, but the Rockies are 3-5. The team has hit .222 during that stretch.
Friday night, the culprits were familiar ones: a punchless offense (1-for-5 with runners in scoring position), and a shaky defense. A ninth-inning meltdown by the bullpen was just salt in the wound.
Arizona right-hander Merrill Kelly limited Colorado to one run over six innings on six hits and one walk. He struck out five.
“Kelly threw the ball well and had us off-balance,” Black said. “He moved the ball in and out. Overall, we hit some balls hard but we couldn’t handle their bullpen.”
C.J. Cron, who entered the game buried in a 2-for-21 slump, and who grounded into a rally-killing double play in the first inning, finally delivered in the third with an RBI single, making it 1-1. Cron steered Kelly’s 3-1 pitch into right field, scoring Ezequiel Tovar, who led off the inning with a single up the middle.
But from that point on, the Rockies were stymied by Kelly and Arizona’s bullpen, not recording another hit until Charlie Blackmon led off the eighth with a single off of Miguel Castro.
Freeland reached into his toolbox to dominate the Diamondbacks for the first six innings. Mixing and matching his pitches, he limited Arizona to one run, a solo homer to Ketel Marte with two outs in the third.
“Up until the seventh inning I pitched really well, except for that elevated slider to Marte,” Freeland said.
But Freeland made two mistakes in the pivotal seventh inning. First, he issued a leadoff walk to Lourdes Gurriel, then left a ball up in the zone and Christian Walker hammered it to deep left for an RBI double to give Arizona a 2-1 lead.
“That leadoff walk in the seventh … not a good time for that,” Freeland said.
Then things got messy. Justin Lawrence relieved Freeland and got the first out on Evan Longoria’s sacrifice bunt to advance Walker to third. But Lawrence walked Corbin Carroll and Walker scored when pinch hitter Josh Rojas hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon. McMahon made a terrific stop and threw for the force at second, but Alan Trejo dropped the ball for an error. That allowed Walker to score, and given an extra out, Gabriel Moreno hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Carroll from third.
Doyle, making his fourth consecutive start since his debut on Monday at Cleveland, went Superman in the sixth to rob the D-Backs’ Emmanuel Rivera of an extra-base hit. Rivera crushed a pitch to center but Doyle turned on his afterburners to make a sensational catch for the third out. Freeland raised his arms over his head in celebration and appreciation.
The Diamondbacks, leaders of the National League West, improved to 15-12. They turned the game into a no-doubter with a five-run ninth. The big blow was Rojas’ two-run double off struggling Rockies reliever Dinelson Lamet, who now owns a 12.19 ERA and a 2.23 WHIP. His opponents are hitting .326 against him.
“He’s just leaving balls in the middle of the plate, and that doesn’t work, no matter your stuff,” Black said.
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