DENVER—Jaime Garcia’s first loss of the season was ugly, the type of performance he’s not used to.
And, neither are the St. Louis Cardinals.
The left-hander was unbeaten when he took the mound at Coors Field and ranked third in the National League with a 1.93 ERA. When Garcia left in the fourth inning, the Colorado Rockies had scored 12 times against him on their way to a 15-4 victory.
“You have good days and bad days and today was a bad day,” said Garcia, whose ERA ballooned to 3.28. “I thought I’d been doing a pretty good job in every game and today was just one of those (bad days).”
The Cardinals had gone 7-3 in Garcia’s previous 10 starts, the three defeats walkoff losses. There was no such suspense and drama this time, as Garcia gave up career-high totals in runs, earned runs (11) and hits (11). Garcia allowed six runs in the first, another in the second and five more in the fourth before his day ended after 3 1-3 innings and 105 pitches.
The beneficiary of all the offense was Juan Nicasio (1-0), who made his major league debut and gave up one unearned run and six hits, five of them singles, in seven innings. The Rockies avoided a season-high five-game losing streak and reached season highs in runs and hits (18).
Chris Iannetta went 4 for 5 with two two-run homers and six RBIs. It was the first multihomer game for Iannetta, who set career-highs in hits and RBI.
Garcia needed 49 pitches to get through the first when the Rockies sent 11 to the plate and said: “I don’t think I’ve thrown as many pitches in an inning.”
The first five batters reached base against Garcia, who had allowed one first-inning run this season. Eric Young Jr. led off with an infield single, as shortstop Ryan Theriot, moving to his left on the grass was unable to field the ball cleanly. Garcia lost a 10-pitch encounter with Dexter Fowler, who walked, and gave up a run-scoring single to Carlos Gonzalez.
Troy Tulowitzki followed with an infield hit to third base that scored Fowler, and Todd Helton singled to load the bass. Garcia fell behind Ty Wigginton 3-0, but struck him out. With the count 1-2 on Ryan Spilborghs, second base umpire Paul Nauret flagged Garcia for going to his mouth while on the mound. That resulted in an automatic ball, leading to a walk that forced in a run.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa went out to talk to Nauert after Garcia said he was just blowing on his hand. Garcia said Nauert told him, “Every time I go to my mouth (while on the mound), I got to wipe (my hand). I don’t know. He said something about me licking my hand. I didn’t do it.”
Iannetta followed with a two-run single, and after Nicasio struck out while trying to sacrifice in his first major league at-bat, Young lined a single to left, his second hit of the inning, to score Spilborghs.
After giving up Spilborghs’ run-scoring single with two out in the second, Garcia retired the side in order in the third before the Rockies roughed him up again in the fourth. Gonzalez led off with a double into the right-field corner, took third on a groundout and scored after being obstructed by Garcia during a rundown. Garcia was charged with an error on that play, which began when Helton hit a ground ball to first baseman Albert Pujols, who threw to the plate. The Cardinals made three throws in the rundown before the obstruction call.
“We did a rundown that was not even rookie ball-caliber,” La Russa said.
Following the rundown, Garcia walked Wigginton. It was the fourth walk for Garcia, who had issued just 13 walks in 65 1-3 innings before this start. Spilborghs followed with a triple to straightaway center and Iannetta belted a two-run homer that finished Garcia.
“It definitely wasn’t the best day with (fastball) location,” Garcia said. “I was leaving a lot of balls up. At this ballpark and with this team—they’ve got a great lineup—you can’t really make that many mistakes.”
The Cardinals scored three runs off Greg Reynolds in the eighth, two on Tyler Greene’s double. But the Rockies, who had scored in the seventh when Fowler tripled and Alfredo Amezega hit a sacrifice fly, tacked on two more when Iannetta homered off left-hander Brian Tallet in the eighth.
Notes: Garcia’s outing matched the second-shortest of his career. He pitched two innings at Kansas City last season on June 27 and also went 3 1-3 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 16. Garcia lost for the first time since Sept. 10 and became the first Cardinals pitcher to allow as many as 11 earned runs in a start since Jason Marquis gave up 12 earned runs July 18, 2006, in five innings against Atlanta. … Theriot extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a first-inning single. … Cardinals LF Matt Holliday was not in the lineup for the fifth straight game due to left quadriceps tightness but pinch-hit for the second straight game. … Tallet gave up four hits and two runs in the eighth after throwing six pitches and leaving Friday’s game with elbow soreness. … RHP Shelby Miller, considered the Cardinals’ top prospect and the 19th overall pick in the 2009 draft, was promoted to Double-A Springfield from high Class A Palm Beach, where he went 2-3 with a 2.89 ERA and 81 strikeouts and 20 walks in 53 innings.
