Milwaukee – The Rockies fancy themselves road warriors, able to come through in the clutch, no matter the stadium.
But as things stand now, the club remains a road warrior wannabe.
Case in point: a 4-3 loss to the Brewers on Sunday at Miller Park that dropped Colorado’s record to 19-27 away from Coors Field.
It was the 12th one-run road loss of the season and second one-run loss in a row. Saturday night, Colorado fell 2-1 in 10 innings, wasting seven innings of one-hit pitching by starter Rodrigo Lopez.
Sunday, the Rockies squandered more than just a solid six-inning start from Aaron Cook. They also blew several chances to put a lid on Bernie the Brewer and silence a sellout crowd.
“We got some opportunities with the bats today,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “It was unfortunate. There were a couple of instances where a big hit would have opened up some space, but we weren’t able to take advantage.”
Colorado’s most glaring what-could- have-been inning was the seventh. After pinch-hitter Cory Sullivan drove in Troy Tulowitzki to tie the game 2-2, the Rockies loaded the bases with one out. All-star Matt Holliday swaggered to the plate looking large and confident. But Brewers reliever Matt Wise induced Holliday to hit into a double play, killing the Rockies’ best chance for a big inning.
The Rockies also failed to convert two other prime scoring opportunities. In the ninth, Chris Iannetta walked. Pinch-runner Omar Quintanilla moved to second on a wild pitch by reliever Francisco Cordero and to third on Jamey Carroll’s sacrifice bunt. But Ryan Spilborghs struck out and Kazuo Matsui flied out, ending the game.
In the sixth, Holliday and Todd Helton reached on back-to-back singles, but Garrett Atkins grounded into a double play and Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan struck out Brad Hawpe, squelching another potential rally.
While Suppan and relievers Derrick Turnbow, Cordero and Wise shut down the Rockies when it mattered most, Rockies lefty Jeremy Affeldt stumbled in the seventh, allowing two runs.
Geoff Jenkins greeted Affeldt with a leadoff double and scored on pinch-hitter Kevin Mench’s triple. Mench scored on Affeldt’s wild pitch.
“I was rushing a little bit out there, for whatever reason,” said Affeldt, who had been rolling, retiring 16 of the past 17 he faced. “I hung a curveball to Jenkins and missed my location to Mench.”
Although Hawpe hit a solo homer in the eighth, his 16th of the season, to close the gap to 4-3, it wasn’t enough as the Rockies fell to 12-23 all-time in Milwaukee.
Cook, who has been struggling, gave up only two runs on four hits.
“I didn’t try to do too much, just keep the ball down in the zone,” Cook said. “I used my four-seamer inside a lot and worked the ball around.”
Cook’s only rough inning was the fifth. It also was unlucky. After getting two outs, Cook gave up an infield single to Gabe Gross, a bloop RBI single to Suppan and a run-scoring single to Corey Hart.
Staff writer Patrick Saunderscan be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
