PITTSBURGH — A sellout crowd. Fireworks. Their manager making more moves than Bobby Fischer. This was a simulated playoff game for the Pirates.
And the Pirates’ performance Saturday might just keep the Rockies from reaching the postseason.
In their 8-7 defeat — Pedro Alvarez hit a three-run homer for Pittsburgh with two outs in the 10th inning — the Rockies didn’t lose any ground in the wild-card race. But they lost another day on the calendar, another opportunity to get well against the National League’s version of a homecoming opponent.
There’s no balm, no ice, no aspirin that will make this one feel better.
“It’s absolute shock,” closer Huston Street said of an ending eerily reminiscent of a July 19 loss at Florida. “I feel like I let everybody down.”
After the Rockies’ Ian Stewart tied the score with a three-run homer in the ninth and Todd Helton added a two-run homer in the 10th, Alvarez left 38,147 mouths agape. The rookie clobbered an 83-mph changeup into the right-field seats. The pitch selection raised questions since it was nearly identical to the offering Alvarez smoked off Jason Hammel on Friday.
Street has not been sharp recently, tagged for six runs in his last 3 2/3 innings. And he missed repeatedly up in the zone in the 10th inning as he allowed a double to Andrew McCutchen, a walk to Garrett Jones and Alvarez’s big blast on an 0-1 pitch.
“Finally, I think the baseball gods looked down on us and said, ‘Enough’s enough,’ ” said Pirates manager John Russell.
It was the Rockies’ sixth extra-inning loss, and this one could resonate for months. It’s pretty simple: To be good, you must bulldoze the bad teams.
The Rockies appeared to realize that in the ninth inning when Stewart blasted a game-tying, three-run homer off newly minted closer Joel Hanrahan. With Octavio Dotel a Dodger, Han-rahan allowed three runs on seven pitches. That set up Helton’s 10th-inning smash — his first home run since June 15, a stretch spanning 64 at-bats.
“The odds were in my favor that eventually I would hit another one,” Helton quipped.
If the Rockies’ season expires Oct. 3 in St. Louis, they can easily trace what sabotaged them — their poor effort against losing ballclubs. The Rockies are 26-27 against teams under .500, including 2-4 against the Pirates, who represent the NL’s nadir.
Compare that with the Giants, who are 33-11 against losers and not coincidentally 5 1/2 games ahead of the Rockies in the wild-card standings.
What made this loss different was that two misguided pitches, not the lacking timely hit, doomed the Rockies. Gripping a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning, Colorado’s Jorge De La Rosa flinched against Chris Snyder.
The left-hander was laboring a bit after putting two runners aboard with walks. But manager Jim Tracy showed confidence, gave him extra leash because of the matchup. Snyder was only 2-for-12 against De La Rosa.
His third hit was memorable. On a full count, the Pittsburgh catcher crushed a fastball about 40 feet up the left-field foul pole. With a two-run cushion, Russell wasn’t taking any chances. He used three pitchers to get three outs, alternating from Ross Ohlendorf to left-hander Wil Ledezma to righty Chris Resop.
The strategy seemed to backfire after the muscle provided by Stewart and Helton. But in a blink, it was over — Street standing 10 feet from home plate, hands on knees, staring at the ground.
“It’s disbelief,” Street said. “Disbelief.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
