Reds 8, Rockies 7: Beck’s blasts not quite enough

Jordan Beck led a strong offensive effort, but they couldn’t overcome Cincinnati

The Colorado Rockies, led by Jordan Beck, battled at the plate all night, but they couldn’t quite best a Cincinnati Reds team that took advantage of walks and weird hits to get the win on Friday night.

Walks will haunt… boooooo!

The Reds boast a potent offensive core, and they showed why they’re so good at taking advantage of opportunities when they jumped on Kyle Freeland early in the contest.

In the top of the first frame, Freeland recorded two inauspicious outs before allowing a base hit to Elly De La Cruz and a walk to Austin Hays. Noevli Marte made sure to take advantage as he sent a 1-0 fastball into right field, plating Hays and giving Cincinnati a quick 1-0 lead.

The Rockies would respond in the bottom of the second when Hunter Goodman smoked a leadoff double into center field and was joined on the basepaths by fellow backstop Jacob Stallings after a walk. Michael Toglia then walked to load the bases with one out for Adael Amador.

Abbott, who had walked three total batters in his previous 12 innings, then allowed a free pass to Amador to square things up at 1-1, before an Aaron Schunk double-play ball finally ended the Rockies’ threat.

Beck leads bats back

Freeland’s tough stretch continued on Friday, as he allowed three runs in the top of the third inning to put Colorado in a 4-1 hole.

Despite the well-documented issues with the Rockies’ offensive output, they showed resilience when they stormed back in the bottom of the same frame. Jordan Beck kicked things off with a leadoff home run to put the Rockies within two.

A Sean Bouchard single and walks to Goodman and Mickey Moniak then loaded the bases for Michael Toglia. He came up big by launching a changeup high into the night sky for what was very nearly a grand slam. He’d settle instead for a game-tying, two-run, ground rule double.

The big hit brought the Rockies right back as the game entered its middle stages.

Kyle Freeland and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad, luck

Kyle Freeland hasn’t had a ton of run support this season. Friday proved to be the exception when the Rockies managed to battle back from a three-run deficit to tie the game. Freeland would try to keep things square and put Colorado in position to take the lead.

Instead, he was the victim of some bad luck. Back-to-back singles to open the top of fifth put Freeland on his back foot again. A strikeout helped, and a ground ball from Santiago Espinal seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. Instead of an easy out, though, the ball put second baseman Amador on a direct collision course with base runner Marte. Amador avoided Marte, but it allowed the ball to trickle past him and score the go-ahead fifth run for the Reds.

Brutal.

That ended Freeland’s night on a sour note. Angel Chivilli entered to finish the frame, and did so after allowing one more RBI single to Blake Dunn.

Freeland’s final line sat at six runs allowed on 10 hits and a walk against four strikeouts.

Punch and counterpunch

Now facing a 6-4 deficit, the Rockies were once again able to fight back. This time, consecutive doubles by Goodman & Stallings, LLC, set the table for Toglia, whose third hit of the game was an RBI single to bring Colorado within one.

Brenton Doyle then strode to the plate. Doyle, who was originally in the lineup but removed for personal reasons, returned and flew out to center field to score Stallings and even things up once again, this time at six apiece.

Seventh is not heaven

After a scoreless sixth, Angel Chivilli looked like he had settled into his role as the long relief man of the game. His control seemed to escape him, though, when he hit Spencer Steer and put the go-ahead run on base. An infield single and a walk then loaded the bases with one out for Blake Dunn. Manager Bud Black hoped that a pitching change to veteran Scott Alexander would be the move to get the team out of the jam.

Instead, Alexander walked Dunn to put the Reds back up 7-6. Their eighth run scored on the next at-bat on a TJ Friedl ground out before another walk, this time to Matt McLain, forced Alexander out. Zach Agnos forced De La Cruz into an inning-ending fly out, but the Rockies found themselves, yet again, down by a pair as the game entered its final stages.

Mike freaking Honcho

Five home runs in three days. That’s all.

Despite Beck’s heroic efforts, the Rockies couldn’t get that one last hit. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth inning, that was a wrap on game one of the series.

Up Next

These two teams will lock horns again on Saturday afternoon for the second game of their series. That will see Cincinnati’s ace Hunter Greene (2-2, 2.35 ERA) take on Colorado’s Antonio Senzatela (1-3, 4.81 ERA).

That game starts at 1:10pm MST. See you then!

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