This afternoon’s rubber match against the Arizona Diamondbacks started after a rain delay that lasted almost two hours. By the time first pitch finally came around one could hardly tell it had been pouring not too long ago. However, spirits were certainly damp as the Colorado Rockies went down early and failed to mount a comeback.
Another difficult Coors start for Michael Lorenzen
For the first two innings this afternoon, it looked like Michael Lorenzen might have himself a solid start at a soggy Coors Field. He pitched two shutout innings with only two baserunners: a single in the first inning—that arguably should have been taken care of by Edouard Julien at second base—and a walk in the second inning.
Things fell off the rails in the third inning. With two outs, Lorenzen walked two batters and gave up back-to-back singles to put the Diamondbacks on the board with two runs. He then finished the inning. In the fourth inning he gave up a leadoff single before getting two outs… only to then give up a single and a home run by Corbin Carroll to give the Diamondbacks another three runs. The fifth inning featured a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. home run, then another run scored via a pair of singles—again with two outs. He was then pulled for newcomer Blas Castañ0, who was called up this morning from Triple-A Albuquerque.
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Six of the seven runs allowed by Lorenzen came with two outs.
“I have to get the third out. For them to put up that many runs with two outs is frustrating,” he said.
The veteran, signed as a free agent this off-season, has struggled immensely at Coors Field. In four starts at a mile high he now has a 9.64 ERA with eight walks and opposing batters hitting .416 against him.
Lorenzen was brutally honest about his performance after the loss.
“I don’t care if it’s Mars,” Lorenzen said after the game. “I need to figure it out.”
He shouldered the responsibility for his poor pitching so far this season.
“It comes down to me. I’ve got to get better. Physically I feel great, but the results are just horrendous. I need to figure it out, because it’s just unacceptable to be this deep in the season and have these kinds of results on a consistent basis.”
Bullpen stops the bleeding
For what it may be worth, the bullpen did exactly what they needed to in relief of Michael Lorenzen. They held the Diamondbacks to just one run for the rest of the game. That run came via newcomer Blas Castaño, who overall had a solid outing. He allowed just the one earned run—a solo home run off the bat of Corbin Carroll—on two hits and a walk while striking out three batters over 2.1 inning.
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Seth Halvorsen and Victor Vodnik combined for two scoreless innings of their own. Halvorsen did give up a hit but also tallied two strikeouts. His velocity appears to have fully recovered from his elbow injury last season as he easily hit 101 MPH multiple times. Vodnik pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout as well.
Late offensive surge comes up short
The Rockies offense was again stagnant for most of the game. Michael Soroka kept the Rockies hitless until there were two outs in the fourth inning with their only baserunner coming in the first inning via a Hunter Goodman walk.
With those two outs in the fourth, the offense finally showed some life. Three straight doubles from birthday boy TJ Rumfield, Troy Johnston, and Willi Castro plated two runs. The Rockies had baserunners in both the fifth and six innings but failed to score, and went down in order in the seventh.
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The Rockies attempted to begin a comeback in the eighth inning, which started with three straight batters reaching and loading up the bases. A Willi Castro sacrifice fly drove in one run, and back-to-back singles by Jake McCarthy and Kyle Karros drove in two more before a Brett Sullivan sacrifice fly plated yet another and had the Rockies suddenly within two runs.
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Unfortunately, the Rockies’ eighth inning ended with an Edouard Julien pop-up. Julien was one of just two batters in the Rockies lineup to go hitless, and the only one to fail to reach safely. The Canadian second baseman has gone stone cold in the month of May, hitting just .075/.159/.075 without an extra base hit, four walks, and 16 strikeouts over 40 at-bats.
“When Eddie is going good, he’s taking his walks, and he hasn’t been doing that a lot lately,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game regarding Julien’s struggles.
The Rockies sadly went down relatively quietly in the ninth. Mickey Moniak—who also failed to record a hit today—and Hunter Goodman combined for two quick outs. TJ Rumfield walked after a lengthy at-bat (and thanks to an ABS challenge) but Troy Johnston flew out and ended both the Rockies’ comeback bid and the game.
Coming Up Next
The Rockies will start a series against the visiting Texas Rangers tomorrow evening with two lefties on the mound. José Quintana will face off against MacKenzie Gore with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 PM MDT.
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