The Colorado Rockies dug themselves into a few holes and weren’t quite able to climb out of them.
Michael Lorenzen fought traffic all night, and the offense wasn’t able to string together enough hits to put them over the top. They ended up losing, 5-4.
Traffic jams prove costly for Michael Lorenzen
Michael Lorenzen battled traffic all night, and came out on the losing end. Ketel Marte kicked things off with a single, and Corbin Carroll doubled right behind him. Luckily, Lorenzen recorded three outs behind them to hold the Dbacks scoreless in the first. He then got a 1-2-3 second of Gabriel Moreno, Jose Fernandez, and Tim Tawa. But the big damage came in the next two innings.
In the third, Ryan Waldschmidt led off with a single, and he would eventually come around to score behind more traffic. Marte walked, but then Carroll struck out. Geraldo Perdomo singled, which scored Waldschmidt, and old friend Nolan Arenado doubled to score Perdomo and put the Snakes up 3-0.
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The fourth inning wasn’t any better.
Jose Fernandez flew out to right to start things off, but then Tawa singled. Two batters later, Marte launched one over the right field wall to put the Snakes up 5-2.
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“It was just a fastball,” Lorenzen said after the game. “He’s usually pretty patient. 0-0, trying to go away and [I] missed in the middle.”
Lorenzen had a quick fifth, but still gave up five runs on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts in his outing.
“I thought Mike threw the ball fine. I thought he gave us a chance to win,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “[He had] good breaking stuff. I think on the homer to Marte — which was the game-winner, basically — he was trying to go away, missed his spot, and Marte is a really good hitter.”
Lorenzen didn’t have the same sentiments about his performance.
“[I’m] not too happy about it,” Lorenzen said. “I feel like I did everything right to put myself in a situation to have a good start. I did everything well, other than the thing that matters most, and that’s run prevention.”
Offense showing sporadic signs of life, but not enough
The Rockies scored four runs, but they struggled to string opportunities together.
The first two runs came in the fourth inning, as the Rockies gave Zac Gallen some trouble on the basepaths. Hunter Goodman singled to lead things off, followed by TJ Rumfield. Tyler Freeman then walked to load the bases, and Troy Johnston singled to drive in Goodman.
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Ezequiel Tovar gounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, but Rumfield was still able to score and put the Rox within one.
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Sterlin Thompson walked, but then Chad Stevens struck out swinging and Kyle Karros flied out to Perdomo to end the inning.
Their next run came in the sixth, when Johnston led off with a single, stole second, was bumped to third by a Tovar groundout, and then was driven home by a Thompson groundout.
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But then Stevens flied out to center to end the inning.
A Home Run!
The Colorado Rockies had not hit a home run in seven games entering tonight. That all changed in the eighth inning, as TJ Rumfield launched one over the left field wall and put the Rockies within a run:
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“TJ threw up four solid at-bats tonight,” Schaeffer said. “With a night where the ball definitely wasn’t flying, to get it the other way — that’s just some real strength. And TJ’s had a solid approach since the beginning of the year. [It was] a big night for him.”
Up Next
The Rockies will wrap up the four-game series in the desert tomorrow afternoon. José Quintana will duel Dbacks’ right-hander Ryne Nelson. First pitch is at 2:10pm MT.
See you then!
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