The Rockies’ tumble from grace continued Thursday night at Coors Field.
Their tepid offense, combined with one shaky inning by starter Clayton Mortensen, led to their demise in a 6-3 loss to the streaking Arizona Diamondbacks.
“There is a ton of baseball left to play, but obviously we need to gain some traction offensively,” manager Jim Tracy said. “Because three runs or less every night . . . it’s not going to work.”
The Rockies have scored two or fewer runs in five of their last six games, the only exception a 12-4 win over Arizona in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader.
Any hopes for late-night LoDo magic were squashed when closer Huston Street served up a two-run homer to Kelly Johnson in the top of the ninth. Street has already tied a career high for homers allowed in a season. He has been tagged seven times in just 24 games. In 2009, his first year as the Rockies’ closer, he also gave up seven home runs, but that was over 64 games.
After Johnson’s blast, fans quickly started heading for the exits.
Those who stayed behind vented their displeasure with boos and jeers as the Rockies’ misery index continues to rise. After a glittering 17-8 in April, the team has lost seven of nine and fell to 7-17 in the not-so-merry month of May. The Rockies’ record stands at 24-25, and they are under .500 for the first time since opening day.
“Things need to change,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. “But, at the same time, there’s definitely an opportunity.”
Right now, the Diamondbacks are headed in the other direction. Viewed by many as a possible National League West cellar-dweller, they took three of four in the series and won for the ninth time in 11 games. They now sit in second place, 1 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants.
Mortensen didn’t pitch a bad game for Colorado, but his lack of command cost him in the fourth. He issued successive walks to Stephen Drew and Chris Young and fell behind Miguel Montero 3-0. On a 3-2 pitch, Montero got a meatball over the heart of the plate and ate it alive, driving the ball over the right-center field fence for a 3-0 Arizona lead.
“I struggled with my command, and then I got too fine,” Mortensen said. “You can’t do that and put the ball over the middle, because these guys will hurt you.”
Arizona padded its lead to 4-1 in the sixth. Chris Young beat out an infield single and stole second, and moved to third on a throwing error by Chris Iannetta. Mora drove in Young with a shot past third baseman Ty Wigginton.
For most of the night, the Rockies’ offense remained mired in a dust bowl-like drought. The bats finally came alive in the seventh as the Rockies scored two runs on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Jason Giambi and a run-scoring single by Ryan Spilborghs.
Tulowitzki, back from a day off, finally delivered in the clutch during the fourth inning, driving in Carlos Gonzalez from second. Tulo arrived at the plate hitting just .216 with runners in scoring position. This time he slapped the ball through the right side.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1720 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
FRIDAY: Cardinals at Rockies, 6:40 p.m., Root
There can be no consolation prizes, no moral victories. Ubaldo Jimenez (0-4, 5.44 ERA) needs the real thing. He hasn’t won since Sept. 17, a streak spanning 11 starts. The Rockies are an alarming 1-10 in those games. He hasn’t won at Coors Field since Sept. 11. The sliver of hope is that Jimenez’s fastball showed late life and hard sink during his two-hit complete game loss last Sunday. Jake Westbrook (4-3, 5.17) has got his season back on track, allowing just one earned run over his last 15 innings. Jason Giambi (six hits, two home runs) gives the right-handed sinkerballer trouble. Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Saturday: Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia (5-0, 1.93 ERA) at Rockies’ Juan Nicasio (major-league debut), 5:10 p.m., KDVR-31
Sunday: Cardinals’ Kyle Lohse (6-2, 2.06) at Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (5-2, 2.76), 1:10 p.m., Root
Monday: Rockies’ Jason Hammel (3-4, 3.20) at Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley (3-4, 3.69), 6:10 p.m., Root
Tuesday: Rockies’ Clayton Mortensen (1-2, 2.83) at Dodgers’ Ted Lilly (3-4, 4.71), 8:10 p.m., Root
