The force is not with the Rockies right now.
Despite matching the Cleveland Guardian’s hit total with seven, the Colorado Rockies went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base, while also striking out nine times on Star Wars night on Saturday at Coors Field. In the end, the difference was a three-run homer for Jo Adell, while the Rockies went yard twice, but they were both solo shots from Connor Norby and Mikey Moniak.
The loss was the fifth in a row for the Rockies and eighth straight at home.
Through three innings, Gabriel Hughes was cruising. He only needed 32 pitches. He gave up one infield single, forced four ground outs and struck out one. He was effective because he was throwing strikes and not falling behind hitters. He led off the second by striking out Jo Adell.
That changed in the fourth when the Guardians as Hughes faced the lineup for the second time through, starting when he issued a five-pitch walk to Chase DeLauter. José Ramírez followed with a single, setting the table for a three-run, 450-foot homer to left field to put Cleveland up 3-0. Hughes gave up another walk and another single in the inning, but was lucky to avoid any further damage in the frame.
Hughes bounced back and sent the Guardians down in order in the fifth to help keep the Rockies in the game. He is now 0-6 in nine appearances and wasn’t able to get a win on his 25th birthday.
“I thought he battled. I thought he came out of the chute very efficient,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “Overall, it was just one inning, one bad inning. Steps forward for sure for Gabe. Attack right out of the zone.”
When he left the game after five innings, Cleveland was up 3-2 after Hughes gave up three runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
The Rockies got on the board in the fourth when Willi Castro hit a two-out single. Troy Johnston took advantage by hitting an RBI double to cut the Guardians lead to 3-1.
“Troy’s been doing it all year. He hit two balls hard tonight. Big RBI,” Schaeffer said. “He always takes good at-bats. You can always trust Troy.”
It helped make up for a wasted chance in the first inning when Jake McCarthy led off the game with a single and Cole Carrigg walked to put runners at first and second. But Tanner Bibee struck out TJ Rumfield and got Kyle Karros to ground out to end the threat.
“You play nine innings for a reason. The first inning is just as important as the ninth inning in terms of runs scoring,” Schaeffer said. “We made Bibee work tonight in the first inning, but nothing to show for it. The next step for us is to put something up there to get the game rolling and get momentum on our side. We just couldn’t do that tonight. Bibee kept us off balance. He was really good tonight.”
Moniak doubled the Rockies score in the fifth when he hit his 21st homer — a 407-foot line drive to left field — to make it 4-2.
Karros was forced out of the game after the fifth inning and it wasn’t clear why at first. In the postgame press conference, Schaeffer explained why and it’s definitely worrisome.
“[He had] symptoms similiar to his concussion. So we had to take him out,” Schaeffer said. “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Castro moved to third base for Karros and Norby entered the game at second. He tried to help the Rockies come up with a much needed comeback in the ninth with a solo homer that was his first in a Colorado uniform.
It just wasn’t enough.
For three innings, the bullpen was amazing. It was the one blimp that ended up being the difference in the game.
The ball just didn’t bounce Nick Frasso’s way when he entered the game in relief in the sixth. After giving up a hard-hit (114 mph) line drive up the middle, Nathaniel Lowe hit a comebacker to the mound that Frasso tipped and shortstop Cole Carrigg wasn’t able to make the play on the deflection. Frasso then got two quick outs before giving up an RBI single to Patrick Bailey to put Cleveland up 4-2.
Brennan Bernardino was next out of the bullpen and put up a three-up, three-down seventh. Juan Mejia did the same in the eighth and returned for the ninth. Despite giving up a two-out walk, he finished the game with two scoreless innings to keep the Rockies in the fight.
“I thought that was one of the biggest highlights of this game for us because everybody knows that Juan struggles when he goes back out [for a second inning], specifically his inability to find the strike zone,” Schaeffer said. “But it seemed like he overcame that hurdle tonight and he’s going to need to do that. That’s why in a down game he needs to go back out and do that. He went back out and attacked the strike zone. …That was a big step forward for Juan.”
The Rockies and Guardians will conclude their series on Sunday at 1:10 p.m.
Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) will get the start for Colorado and enters the game with a 12-6 record and 4.70 ERA. Cleveland will send LHP Foster Griffin (14-4, 3.18) to the mound.
Before the game, the Rockies will unveil Larry Walker’s statute at 9:30 a.m. The first 15,000 fans will get a replica of the statue.
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