CINCINNATI — Cincy partied like it was 1990 on Friday night, bringing in MC Hammer to fete the city’s last world championship team 20 years after it painted the baseball world red.
The Rockies? Most of them bailed out of the visiting clubhouse before the postgame concert and fireworks knowing full well they should have put a damper on things by beating today’s version of the Reds.
“We put ourselves in a wonderful position to steal that game,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “We gave ourselves one opportunity, and we weren’t able to capitalize.”
The Reds won 3-2 on a hot and humid night at Great American Ball Park, but the story was three runs that didn’t score and one that should have. If it had, the Rockies would have tied it in the eighth inning.
Not that they wanted to settle for only one.
“You’ve got the bases loaded and nobody out,” Tracy said. “You’ve got to push somebody across. . . . You’re trying to push more than one across.”
The thought of scoring at all didn’t cross the Rockies’ minds in the early going as Bronson Arroyo (10-4) held them to one hit, an infield single by Jonathan Herrera, through 6 2/3 innings. But a fifth-inning catch by Dexter Fowler that in a world of web gems ranked as an entire diamond mine kept things close.
“I thought, ‘This is not my night,’ because I thought it was going to leave the yard,” said Jason Hammel, who had a personal six-game winning streak snapped despite a career-high 10 strikeouts. “Obviously, I tip my cap to Dex. That was an unreal play.”
Jay Bruce hit a deep drive to right-center that looked like a sure home run, but Fowler sprinted to the wall, leaped 2 feet over the railing and snagged the ball before it could be swallowed by a sea of fans.
“I knew I had to jump for it,” Fowler said. “I knew it had a chance to go out, but I saw it all the way. You always need momentum, and I thought it would shift our way. It did a little bit, but we didn’t get it done.”
If Fowler’s glove kept the Rockies in the game — a home run would have made it 5-0 at a time when they had one hit — his bat was among the reasons they didn’t win it. He popped up to right field with no outs and the bases loaded in the eighth, moments after Miguel Olivo had gotten the Rockies within a run with his 12th home run.
Arthur Rhodes, a first-time all-star at age 40, followed by getting a called third strike on Jonathan Herrera, who threw up his arms in disgust at umpire Tom Hallion’s call. With many of the 37,188 in the house on their feet, Rhodes slammed the door by getting Carlos Gonzalez to chase high heat for strike three.
“I made some pitches tonight, but unfortunately they fell,” said Hammel, who hadn’t lost since May 21. “You’re going to have nights like that. I don’t like pitching in humidity because I sweat like a pig, but I did a pretty good job.
“We all did. We battled but we just couldn’t pull it out at the end.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: Rockies at Reds, 5:10 p.m., FSN
It’s all a matter of command. Jorge De La Rosa (3-1, 4.94 ERA) couldn’t find it in his last outing after missing 2 1/2 months with a torn tendon in his left middle finger. He may struggle again tonight, or he may look like the monster he was in the second half of 2009. Edinson Volquez is coming off Tommy John surgery and a 50-day suspension to make his season debut. He was 4-0, 1.45 during his rehab assignments in Single-A and Triple-A. Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Sunday: Rockies’ Aaron Cook (3-5, 4.88 ERA) at Reds’ Travis Wood (0-0, 2.18), 11:10 a.m., FSN
Monday: Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (15-1, 2.20) at Marlins’ Anibal Sanchez (7-6, 3.66), 5:10 p.m., FSN
Tuesday: Rockies’ Jeff Francis (2-3, 5.14) at Marlins’ Nate Robertson (6-7, 5.10), 5:10 p.m., FSN
Wednesday: Rockies’ Jason Hammel (7-4, 4.07) at Marlins’ TBA, 5:10 p.m., FSN
