Colorado Rockies Bullpen Falters Yet Again In Latest Loss To Pittsburgh Pirates
By Andrew Dill
Jul 25, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies second baseman Josh Rutledge (14) hits a RBI double in the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Rockies were unable to complete the three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday afternoon as they saw their three-game winning streak snapped.
Colorado Rockies starter Franklin Morales was very inconsistent Sunday afternoon as the southpaw couldn’t connect with the strike zone. Morales gave up an RBI single to Josh Harrison in the top half of the second inning, scoring Jordy Mercer to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Gregory Polanco would follow-up with a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Chris Stewart to extend the lead to two.
DJ LeMahieu would jump-start the Rockies offense with an RBI single to center in the bottom half of the second inning, scoring Wilin Rosario to cut the lead to within one.
The Rockies capitalized on a three-run fourth inning as Brandon Barnes hit a no-doubt, two-run home run into the bleachers in left field to go ahead, 3-2. With DJ LeMahieu on base, Charlie Blackmon smoked an RBI double off the wall in right-center, giving the Rockies a 4-2 lead.
Morales struggled in the top half of the fifth inning as reliever Chad Bettis came in and cleaned up the mess. With the bases loaded with no outs, Jordy Mercer hit a hot-shot at Nolan Arenado who snagged the ball and laid out for the bag at third, converting the unassisted double-play. Bettis would then get Pedro Alvarez to ground out to second to end the side.
In the top half of the sixth, Pirates pinch-hitter Travis Snider would tie up the ball game on a hanging breaking ball over the middle of the plate. Snider’s two-run home run to right knotted it up at four apiece. After giving up a bloop single to Josh Harrison, Walt Weiss would make a double-switch, replacing Brandon Barnes with Carlos Gonzalez in right as Tommy Kahnle took over on the hill.
After a bizarre play, Josh Harrison swiped second base and Josh Rutledge apparently failed to apply the tag. Harrison would show off his NFL juke moves, dodging the Rockies continuously in a sloppy run-down where he ended up at third untouched. With a runner on third with no outs, Kahnle would proceed to strike out Polanco and Andrew McCutchen in order.
Kahnle would have one pitch he would like to get back. Up 1-2 in the count on Ike Davis, Kahnle threw a fastball in on the hands of pinch-hitter Ike Davis who turned on it for an RBI single to right, scoring Harrison as the Pirates took a 5-4 lead, top of the sixth.
In the bottom half of the seventh inning, the kid Nolan Arenado would tie the game up at five with a solo blast to dead center field.
Reliever Rex Brothers entered the top half of the eighth inning with a tie game and left with the Pirates leading 7-5. Brothers would give up back-to-back solo home runs to Josh Harrison and Gregory Polanco as the bullpen continues to show why they are the worst in the bigs.
The Rockies were unable to get anything going offensively the rest of the game as they fell, 7-5.
The Colorado Rockies (43-61) are back in action Monday night as they open up a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs on the road.