The Colorado Rockies had a chance to steal a win in Atlanta this afternoon after, but ultimately it turned out to be Atlanta who came out on top. The Rockies pitching staff performed well for the first seven innings, but it came down to some late-inning weird outfield defense that allowed the Braves to snatch a 2-1 victory.
Agnos & Co.
Zach Agnos was called upon right before first pitch to start in place of Ryan Feltner, who was dealing with an illness overnight and was unable to play.
Agnos last started in June,
but today was reminiscent of his first-career start in Arizona. He threw 42 pitches across 2.2 innings — likely because he threw two innings in relief just three days ago — but only allowed two hits with one walk and one strikeout.
He was relieved in the third inning by Nick Frasso, who threw 1.1 additional innings. Frasso did not allow a hit, and also walked one and struck out another. Brennan Bernardino pitched a 1-2-3 fifth on nine pitches, while Jimmy Herget allowed just one hit and a strikeout in 1.2 innings.
Herget was put into a unique situation, though, as his outing was interrupted by an injury to home plate umpire Ron Kulpa. Kupla was hit in the mask on a back swing by Ozzie Albies, and was ultimately lifted as a precaution for a possible concussion. 13 minutes later, Herget hit Albies with a pitch, putting men on first and second, but Mike Yastrzemski grounded out 1-6-3.
Michael Harris II — who hit a bunt single to lead off the inning — moved to third on the play, and Herget was relieved for Jaden Hill (more on Hill’s outing later).
“I thought that they were awesome,” manager Warren Schaeffer said after the game. “Having to do that today, I thought that they were exceptional. Every guy left it all out there.
Offensive breakthrough in the sixth
On the other side, Martín Pérez also had an excellent outing.
The veteran entered the game with a 22.1-inning scoreless streak at Truist Park, and nearly ended his outing with one. He lasted 5.2 innings, but eventually had that scoreless streak snapped at 27.2 innings by Will Castro.
Pérez got two quick outs with McCarthy bunt grounding out and Carrigg lining out to start the inning, but then Hunter Goodman walked, and TJ Rumfield singled. Connor Norby to load the bases, and then Castro singled to score Goodman. Unfortunately, due to his speed, Rumfield was held up at third.
“His changeup was really good, and our right-handed hitters had no response for it today,” Schaeffer said. “We couldn’t make an adjustment to that. But we grinded and pushed that run across. It’s just tough to win a 1-0 ballgame.”
Old friend Brent Suter came out to relieve Pérez and got Mickey Moniak to ground out to second and end the threat of more runs.
Late-inning heartbreak
The Rockies had a 1-0 lead heading into the eighth inning, but were unfortunately unable to hold onto it.
Jaden Hill, who came in to get the final out of the seventh, returned for the eighth. He got two quick outs from Drake Baldwin and Ronald Acuña Jr., but then Matt Olson singled to right, and Mauricio Dubón singled to center to move Olson to third. Michael Harris II doubled to left, which scored Olson and Dubón.
The opposing team scoring two runs is never great. But it’s even less great when there are some weird mental blunders in the outfield that allow runners to take extra bases and/or score runs. The biggest one was the Harris double. If Beck had thrown the ball to Ezequiel Tovar to try to get Dubón at the plate instead of Connor Norby to try to get Harris, the Rockies might’ve had a shot of keeping the score tied.
“There was a bang-bang play there (at second base),” Schaeffer said. “The second baseman needs to be aware that there’s also a runner running, so he could’ve thrown it off the plate, for sure.”
Jordan Romano entered to get the final out in the eighth down 2-1 instead of up 1-0, and was able to get Yastrzemski to ground out to second.
The Rockies had a chance in the ninth, but weren’t able to break through again. Didier Fuentes came in to close, and immediately walked Castro. Moniak struck out, and then Troy Johnston entered as a pinch-hitter for Jordan Beck. He singled, and was replaced by pinch-runner Ryan Ritter. Tovar was pinch hit for by Zac Veen, who struck out on three pitches, and McCarthy battled through but ultimately lined out to right to end the game.
Up Next
The Rockies have one more game tomorrow morning against the Braves, hoping to avoid the sweep. Mason Adams will be making his second big-league start against Tyler Mahle. First pitch is at 11:35am MT.
See you then!
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