It was not such a great birthday for Dinger
Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of Coors Field, and today is Dinger’s birthday. Unfortunately, the Rockies did not give either of them a happy birthday present.
Yesterday, they lost 6-4 to the Cincinnati Reds; today, they were nearly no-hit and also nearly shutout. If not for Jordan Beck, both of those things would have happened.
But they still lost 8-1.
Blalock was serviceable-ish until he wasn’t
Bradley Blalock had a weird first inning. He got leadoff man TJ Friedl to line out to third, but then gave up back-to-back singles to Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz, who then moved up on a wild pitch. Steer scored on a groundout, and then De La Cruz came home on a Gavin Lux double. Noelvi Marte singled to score Lux, and then he stole second. It was initially ruled that he was out, but the Reds challenged it and replay showed that shortstop Alan Trejo did indeed miss the tag. Jake Fraley then walked, and he and Marte stole a bag apiece to bring the total up to three stolen bases in the first inning. Luckily, Jeimer Candelario lined out to right to end the threat and the scoring at 3-0.
Blalock then sent down the minimum over the next three innings. (De La Cruz got a hit in the third but was caught trying to steal.) He started the fifth inning, but then allowed three-straight baserunners. He was relieved by Jimmy Herget with the bases loaded, and that’s where the wheels fell off again…
Himmy Jerget
Herget came in after three batters in the fifth inning, and immediately allowed a run on a balk to run up the score to 4-0. De La Cruz then hit a sac fly to center to make it 5-0, Austin Hays singled to make it 6-0, and Marte doubled to make it 7-0 (after Lux struck out right before him). Fraley walked, but then Candelario struck out to end the inning. Three of the four runs were charged to Blalock.
Herget pitched the sixth inning as well and allowed two baserunners, but none of them came around to score.
Luckily, the rest of the bullpen was locked in. Zach Agnos pitched a scoreless seventh, which included his first-career strikeout, and eighth. Scott Alexander pitched the ninth and allowed one more run.
Beck steps up again
The Rockies were on their way to be no-hit by Nick Lodolo through 5+ innings. They’d had three baserunners up to that point, but no hits — Michael Toglia walked in the second inning, Hunter Goodman was hit by a pitch in the fourth, and Sean Bouchard reached on an error in the fifth.
All of that changed in the sixth inning on a debatable call. Jordan Beck lined the ball right to De La Cruz, and he threw it to Steer, who was off the bag when Beck crossed it. The Reds challenged the play, and it was upheld, allowing Beck to record the Rockies’ first hit of the afternoon.
Not to be outdone, Kyle Farmer hit a trickling single in the seventh. The ball slowly rolled all the way up the foul line and hit the bag to record the Rockies’ second (but first no-doubt) hit of the game. It also broke up an 0-for-23 skid for Farmer.
And for the third hit of the game, Trejo recorded his 100th-career hit in the eighth. He was then knocked in by Beck to also break up the shutout.
Up Next
The Atlanta Braves come to Coors Field for a three-game set starting tomorrow.
Ryan Feltner will face right-hander Bryce Elder. First pitch is at 6:40pm MT.
See you then!