Rockies’ offense falters in 8-2 loss to Pirates at Coors Field

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“That’s baseball” is one of manager Bud Black’s favorite refrains.

Seeing-eye base hits, bloop doubles, balls lost in the sun, and a crucial missed call by the home plate umpire. All that was on full display in the Rockies’ 8-2 loss to the Pirates Sunday at Coors Field.

But that’s not what cost the Rockies a chance to clinch the three-game series in front of a Father’s Day crowd of 40,422. The Rockies’ offense was like a bad dad joke. Cringe-worthy.

After pounding out 16 runs on 16 hits in a 16-4 victory on Saturday night, Colorado followed up with nine hits on Sunday but never put together a big inning. Colorado was 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position, while the Pirates were 4 for 12.

Pittsburgh lefty starter Josh Fleming allowed four hits over four scoreless innings.

The Pirates’ five-run sixth inning broke the Rockies’ back. Right-hander Dakota Hudson, who deserved a better fate, gave up a pair of cheap, one-out singles to Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzalez. Black opted for reliever Victor Vodnik.

Vodnik gave up a two-run infield single to Jared Triolo and another single to Jack Suwinski. Then came a critical pitch. Vodnik’s 3-2, 100 mph fastball looked like strike three, but umpire John Libka called it ball four to load the bases. Up stepped Jason Delay, who crushed a two-run double.

The Pirates tagged on two more runs in the seventh against Nick Mears. Bryan Reynolds led off with a single, Cruz doubled to right, and Rowdy Tellez blooped a two-run single to left.

The Rockies produced their lone run in the seventh against lefty reliever Justin Bruihl, combining a leadoff double by Jacob Stallings, a single by Nolan Jones, and an RBI groundout by Jake Cave.

Hudson fell to 2-9 after giving up three runs on seven hits over his 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.

The Pirates continue to scuttle the Rockies in LoDo. They swept the Rockies in their three-game series at Coors last April, outscoring the Rockies 33-14. Dating back to 2015, Pittsburgh is 20-10 at Coors Field.

The Rockies, whose record slid to 4-11 in June after posting a 14-13 record in May, begin a four-game series against the Dodgers Monday night at Coors.

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from The Denver Post https://ift.tt/51jFiOk

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