A 40-minute delay, a blown early lead, eight walks issued by Rockies pitchers and a Rockies rally that came too late and came up too short was the losing recipe for Colorado on Wednesday night. The Rockies remain tied with the White Sox for the lowest win total in the MLB modern era at a 41-111 record and have now lost four games in a row. The Rockies have 10 games remaining on the schedule this season.
Oh, Mickey!
Mickey Moniak continued his hot streak at the plate. Despite pinch-hitting and only having two
at-bats, Moniak launched his 23rd homer of the season to the second deck in right field. The ball went 429 feet and was the fourth homer in the last three games for Moniak.
Hunter Goodman, who went 3-for-4 with a run scored and a walk, and Jordan Beck, who had a two-hit night with an RBI, each added singles, but Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar popped out and grounded out, respectively, to end the game. They each represented the tying run, but represented a bigger problem as the Rockies left 10 runners on base.
Rockies Strike First
Bucking a strong trend this season, the Rockies actually scored first to take an early lead on Wednesday. Tovar got it started when he reached on an infield single to lead off the second inning of Ryan Weathers. Blaine Crim followed with a walk and Kyle Farmer made Miami pay with an RBI single that put Colorado up 1-0.
Braxton Fulford then hit a sac fly to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.
Tyler Freeman reached on a one-out single and Goodman drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, but Beck grounded out to leave three Rockies on base.
Beck was able to redeem himself a bit in the fourth inning when Goodman hit a two-out double and Beck was able to drive him in to help the Rockies tie the game at 3-3.
Miami Seizes Free Passes
Is it a coincidence that the Rockies walked eight Marlins and the Marlins scored eight runs?
Probably not.
Four Rockies pitchers combined to walk eight Marlins, who also got another base runner through a hit by a pitch in just seven of the nine innings on Wednesday (two pitchers didn’t issue any walks in two innings).
McCade Brown retired the first batter in each of his four innings. He retired the first two in three of those innings, but then he often created his own trouble. Brown issued his first walk in the first inning, but Beck was able to help bail him out by flashing his range in left field.
After putting up two scoreless frames despite one walk, Brown issued two two-out walks in the third and then paid for it when Liam Hicks singled and drove in a run to cut Colorado’s lead to 2-1.
In the fourth, and again with two outs, Brown recorded his third walk, which was followed by a single, double and another single to put Miami up 3-2. Brown finished his night being charged with three runs on four hits with four walks with one strikeout.
Ryan Rolison entered the game in the fifth and walked two more Marlins, but got lucky when Ezequiel Tovar caught a line drive for a double play to end the inning. Jaden Hill came into the game in the sixth and issued a lead-off walk to Heriberto Hernández. A single, fielder’s choice and hit by pitch then set up a sacrifice fly to put the Marlins back on top 4-3.
After taking a two-inning break from walks, Angel Chivilli got back to it with a lead-off walk to Graham Pauley in the ninth. After following that up with a single by Connor Norby, Chivilli was helped by Doyle, who caught a fly ball off the bat of Dane Myers and threw it in to get Norby trying to tag and advanced to second.
Joey Wiemer didn’t leave the lone runner on base, hitting a sac fly to score Pauley, making the Rockies once again pay for walking a batter.
Fish Can Hit Too
The fourth and fifth Rockies pitchers in the game, Juan Mejia and Roansy Contreras, didn’t issue any walks, but they sure did give up some hits. Mejia surrendered a single, double and sac fly to add an insurance run as Miami went up 5-3 in the seventh inning. It got worse in the eighth when Contreras gave up a lead-off single and then paid for it when Agustín Ramírez smashed a two-run homer to make it 7-3. It was Ramírez’s 21st homer of the season and it traveled 422 feet to left center field.
Up Next
The Rockies and Marlins will conclude their series on Thursday with a day game at 1:10 p.m. The Rockies starter with the most wins, Tanner Gordon (6-6, 6.14 ERA), will go head-to-head against Sandy Alcantara (9-12, 5.53 ERA).
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