If you are shocked by the Rockies’ latest way to lose, you’re probably living under a rock.
Colorado held a 5-2 lead over the Giants going into the ninth in the series opener on Tuesday night at Coors Field. Up to that point, they had timely hitting, got a decent start from Carson Palmquist, and the bullpen had been flawless.
Then came the punch line as the Rockies remain on pace to be the worst team in modern baseball history.
Closer Zach Agnos imploded in the final inning, and fellow reliever Victor Vodnik couldn’t clean up his mess as San Francisco plated four runs to hand Colorado a 6-5 defeat.
“You can say it’s a young team developing,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said, “but you (can also) say, we just lost the game tonight.
“… Every loss hurts. We need to remember these losses moving forward, and learn from them.”
The LoDo crowd was, well, pretty happy considering a large contingent of the 24,553 on hand were San Francisco fans. It was the Rockies’ sixth straight defeat at Coors Field as they fell to 6-26 at home, the worst 32-game home stretch at any point in franchise history.
The defeat dropped Colorado to 12-54 overall as the Rockies remain on cruise control to surpass the White Sox’s modern record of 121 losses, and blew a chance for a marquee win over National League West contender San Francisco in the process. The Rockies are tied with the 1932 Red Sox for the worst start in the modern era (since 1901) through 66 games.
“I did a terrible job (of my preparation) tonight, I guess,” Agnos said of his meltdown in the ninth. “I just couldn’t find (my command). … I just didn’t get the job done tonight and it’s embarrassing.”
The game began inauspiciously for Palmquist when Giants leadoff man Jung Hoo Lee roped a triple off the Bridich Barrier in right-center field. Wilmer Flores RBI single proceeded to make it 1-0.
But the Rockies struck back in the second, when Brenton Doyle’s double was followed up by a two-out RBI single by rookie shortstop Ryan Ritter to tie the game.
Palmquist settled in after the opening inning, posting three straight zeros as the Rockies took their first lead in the fourth off Ryan McMahon’s leadoff homer. The 424-foot blast to left-center off an elevated Kyle Harrison fastball made it 2-1.
But the Giants tied the game, and chased Palmquist, in the next inning. Willy Adames led off the fifth with a 439-foot homer to center field, and after Palmquist walked the next batter, Schaeffer lifted the southpaw in favor of right-hander Jake Bird.
“I thought I filled up the zone pretty good tonight with all my pitches,” Palmquist said. “I just need to execute better in a few situations, like not falling behind 3-1 and having to throw a fastball that resulted in a home run (to Adames). It’s just a few little things I need (to clean up). … I threw more cutters than I normally would, which isn’t a bad thing, because I thought it worked really well against their righties on the outer half.”
Bird, a bright spot in a dark season, extended his career-high scoreless streak to 10 outings with another dominant performance.
He struck out three straight Giants in the fifth to leave a man aboard, then set San Francisco down in order in the sixth with two more Ks. That gave Bird 200 career Ks, extended his NL reliever-best season strikeouts to 50 and lowered his home ERA to a dazzling 0.41 in 17 games in LoDo this season.
In-between Birdman’s dominance, the Rockies re-took the lead off another homer, this time a solo shot by Kyle Farmer in the fifth. Farmer’s 376-foot homer pulled down the left-field line came on Harrison’s dead-red slurve.
“Offensively, I thought it was a step forward tonight,” Schaeffer said.
After Bird, Seth Halvorsen kept the momentum with the Rockies by retiring San Francisco in order in the seventh. Tyler Kinley kept the train rolling with a one-two-three eighth. But after a pair of triples by Hunter Goodman and Doyle led to two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, in the ninth, Agnos was erratic.
The rookie was ambushed on a first-pitch homer by leadoff Casey Schmitt, then walked three guys to load the bases with one out. Vodnik came on to bail him out, but couldn’t. He yielded a sacrifice fly before Wilmer Flores’ two-out swinging bunt tied the game, and then Mike Yastrzemski singled to give the Giants the lead.
McMahon was playing deep at third base on Flores’ decisive squibbler, and Vodnik fielded it cleanly way off to the right side of the mound, but Flores beat the throw to first.
“That was a tough (break),” Vodnik said. “That was a big moment right there. I tried to get the out. It just didn’t go our way.”
In the bottom of the ninth, Orlando Arcia led off with a single, but then the Giants turned a double play on a grounder by Jordan Beck. Sam Hilliard walked and then Goodman’s bloop single advanced him to third, but Camilo Doval got Thairo Estrada to fly out to end the game.
Wednesday’s pitching matchup
Giants LHP Robbie Ray (8-1, 2.44 ERA) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-8, 5.19)
6:40 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
Trending: With Tuesday’s defeat, 11 of the Rockies’ last 14 games have been decided by two or fewer runs, and the Rockies are 3-11 in that span. They are consistently coming up short in close contests.
Pitching probables
Thursday: Giants RHP Hayden Birdsong (3-1, 2.55) at Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (1-10, 6.68), 1:10 p.m.
Friday: Rockies RHP German Marquez (2-8, 7.00) at Braves RHP Bryce Elder (2-3, 4.08), 5:15 p.m.
Saturday: Rockies RHP Chase Dollander (2-6, 6.85) at Braves RHP Spencer Strider (0-5, 5.40), 2:10 p.m.
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