MILWAUKEE — Much of who the Rockies are is easy to like. Their athleticism, their versatility, their depth. But what the Milwaukee Brewers did during their 7-5 victory Tuesday at Miller Park exposed a potential vulnerability of the Rockies’ offense on a night when muscle was necessary to disguise Greg Smith’s clumsiness.
The recipe was hauntingly familiar: a good left-handed starter, in this case Randy Wolf, and too many difficult at-bats.
The Rockies were 8-16 on the road against left-handed starters last season. They are now 0-1 this season, an intriguing ninth-inning rally against Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman left gasping when Jason Giambi struck out.
“We were never out of the game and that’s all you can ask for,” manager Jim Tracy said. “We were always one swing away from taking the lead.”
Coming up just short late brought back into focus the start. Failures against left-handed starters became an annoyingly convincing trend when Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee mauled them in the playoffs.
“It’s no secret that we struggled against lefties,” said Ian Stewart, who has 13 total bases in this season-opening series.
Trying to find a balanced lineup against lefties is a priority this year. For that to happen, improvement is needed from a handful of players, including Stewart, Chris Iannetta and Brad Hawpe. Iannetta and Seth Smith are the only starters without a hit this season. Iannetta and Hawpe went a combined 0-for-6 against Wolf, with three strikeouts.
To extrapolate these numbers into a broader conclusion is unreasonable, but the lefty issue will remain an issue until it’s not — even if Wolf wasn’t buying it.
“The Rockies are going to be a very tough team in their division. Those guys can hit,” said Wolf, who surrendered four runs in 6 2/3 innings.
Todd Helton singled in his first three at-bats, but with the Rockies trailing 5-4 in the seventh, he popped up against left-handed specialist Mitch Stetter with two runners on.
Such a misstep might have gone unnoticed if not for Greg Smith’s awkward launch and the unconvincing work of the team’s bullpen (two earned runs allowed in three innings).
As first impressions go, Smith is eager for a second chance. Making his Rockies debut and pitching in his first major-league game in 18 months, the left-hander was a human Red Bull.
“When it’s 68 degrees and I am out there sweating, that tells you I was a little too amped,” said Smith, who walked the leadoff hitter, a prelude to a 33-pitch first inning that was defined by Casey McGehee’s three-run homer.
The Rockies crawled back to within a run on the strength of 415-foot blast from Stewart and a pair of RBI groundouts from Carlos Gonzalez. They can win the series today, make things right against, of course, another lefty (Doug Davis).
“It’s an area where we know we can improve, hopefully to the point where teams don’t think they can just run anyone out there against us,” Stewart said.
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: Rockies at Brewers, 11:10 a.m., FSN/MLB
Rockies right-hander Aaron Cook (11-6, 4.16 ERA in 2009) found his release point and rediscovered his sinker late in spring training. He’s eager to see if his dramatic weight loss will lead to bigger gains over the course of the season. Cook has a 3.00 ERA in five games at Miller Park. Jim Edmonds (9-for-16, three homers) has given him fits. The Rockies had their way with Doug Davis (9-14, 4.12) as a Diamondback. The Milwaukee left-hander will try to get them to chase his curveball. Todd Helton has five RBIs against Davis in 13 at-bats. Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Thursday: Off
Friday: Padres’ Clayton Richard (9-5, 4.41 ERA in 2009) vs. Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (16-9, 4.38), 2:10 p.m., FSN
Saturday: Padres’ Mat Latos (4-5, 4.62) vs. Rockies’ Jason Hammel (10-8, 4.33), 6:10 p.m., FSN
Sunday: Padres’ Jon Garland (0-1, 4.50 in 2010) vs. Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0, 1.50), 1:10 p.m., FSN
