The Rockies’ brain trust talks a lot about the growth process.
So general manager Dan O’Dowd and manager Clint Hurdle were keenly interested to see how their young club would respond to the challenge of Wednesday night’s game, which arrived less than 17 hours after a heartbreaking 2-1, 18-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The response: The Rockies lost 9-5 to the Diamondbacks.
“We needed to show up today and try to throw a punch back after last night’s game and we weren’t able to do it,” Hurdle said after his team slipped four games below .500 (58-62).
Starter Aaron Cook, with his trusty sinker buoyant in the strike zone, gave up a career- high nine runs. He allowed 11 hits, one shy of his career high, and was gone after 6 2/3 innings.
“This was probably the worst outing of my career,” he said after falling to 8-11. “I’ll just shower up and get ready for my next start.”
The Diamondbacks pounded out 14 hits to move within 2 1/2 games of first-place Los Angeles, which lost to Florida 15-4, in the National League West. The Diamondbacks improved to 27-19 against the NL West.
The Rockies, 23-30 in the division, remain 5 1/2 games behind the Dodgers. They sit four games behind Cincinnati in the wild-card race.
Prior to the game, Rockies players said they felt fresh and alert, despite the 18-inning marathon. But their play suggested otherwise. Shortstop Clint Barmes opened the game with a throwing error over first baseman Todd Helton’s head. Second baseman Jason Smith booted a ball in the second inning. In the fourth, center fielder Cory Sullivan missed the cutoff man, allowing Stephen Drew to advance to second base off a single. Drew quickly scored on Orlando Hudson’s single.
Arizona scored five runs on six hits in that key fourth inning. The onslaught began with Shawn Green’s 433-foot homer off Cook into the second deck in right field. The inning included back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Luis Gonzalez and Chad Tracy.
Gnawing at Cook was the fact that five of Arizona’s runs came with two out.
“I was getting the ball up a little bit,” Cook said. “I think they hit about three or four balls hard, but then they got a couple of broken-bat hits that got through. That was the one big inning that I’ve been able to avoid for most of the year and keep us in games. Not tonight.”
Two positives poked through the gloom of consecutive losses to the Diamondbacks. One is the hot bat wielded by Helton, who was 3-for-5 on Wednesday and is hitting .455 (10-for-22) on the current homestand, raising his average to .297.
The other continues to be catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who has been Michael Jordan-like in the clutch. His two-out, bases-loaded single in the first scored Helton and Garrett Atkins, giving the Rockies an early jump-start. This season, with two out and runners in scoring position, Torrealba is hitting .476 (10-for-21) with three homers and 20 RBIs.
Staff writer Patrick Saunderscan be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
