MILWAUKEE — Another day, another example of why spring-training stat sheets make the best confetti: The Rockies’ Greg Smith, who allowed three earned runs in 18 Cactus League innings, allowed three in his first inning of work when things counted.
“It’s hard to swallow, especially with our hitters putting up a fight today,” Smith said Tuesday after the Brewers won 7-5. “We kept it close, but couldn’t quite pull it out.
“I’ll take responsibility for that. I’ll take this one.”
Smith was one of the best story lines of the spring, having made the Rockies’ opening-day roster after not throwing a pitch in the big leagues in 2009. Elbow surgery, shoulder inflammation, sickness . . . you name it, he had it last spring.
This year was a different story, as different as the Rockies under Clint Hurdle and the team that Jim Tracy took to the 2009 playoffs. Smith came out of the spring locating all his pitches and brimming with confidence going into Tuesday’s matchup with the Brewers.
Trouble was, he was overflowing with nerves.
“There’s a part of me that understands it,” Tracy said. “Greg Smith hasn’t pitched competitively in over a year and I’m sure he was somewhat amped up. We ran into a little command issue early in the game.”
Smith got ahead of Rickie Weeks to open the game, but walked him on a 3-2 pitch. And after walking Prince Fielder with two outs, he thought he had Casey McGehee struck out to end the inning. But McGehee got a sliver of wood on the ball and it popped out of Chris Iannetta’s glove to keep the Brewers alive.
“He just ticked it,” Smith said. “I thought I got one by him for a split second. Then I saw Iannetta pick it up, so ob-viously it was a foul ball.”
Moments later, on his 27th pitch of a 33-pitch inning, Smith misplaced a would-be inside fastball, leaving the ball over the outside part of the plate. McGehee planted it into the Rockies’ bullpen.
“Two walks, a missed spot, three runs,” Smith said. “After slowing him down a little with two changeups, I tried to get him in, but I didn’t get it in there.”
The Rockies spent the rest of the night trying to make a game of it, drawing within a run at 5-4 with Todd Helton at the plate and two runners on in the seventh. But it wasn’t to be.
The bottom line?
“Certainly, I’d like to have the first inning back,” Tracy said. “Therein lies the difference in the game.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
