LoDo magic has pulled a disappearing act on the Rockies.
“So far, for me, it’s been very different here this year,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said in another somber clubhouse Sunday. “In my career here, we have probably won 80 percent of these close games, but this year it seems like half of them, or something like that.”
The latest punch to the gut was thrown by Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, who hit a go-ahead, two-out solo home run in the 10th inning off reliever Boone Logan to defeat the Rockies 3-2. Miami won the series 2-1 as the Rockies slid to 11-17 at Coors Field.
The immediate future presents a major challenge. The National League powerhouse St. Louis Cardinals come to town Monday to begin a three-game series.
“Wins are the main thing we are looking for,” said Kyle Kendrick, who pitched seven strong innings for the Rockies but failed to pick up his third victory of the season. “We have to string together some wins. Today was a tough loss, but we have a really good team coming in here, so we have to forget this and get ready.”
Colorado’s offense, which exploded for a season-high 17 hits Saturday night in a 10-5 victory over Miami, went into hibernation again Sunday, managing just five hits.
Miami’s Jose Urena, a rookie right-hander making just his third big-league start, baffled the Rockies for six innings, utilizing a 94 to 96 mph fastball and an 88 mph slider with sharp movement. The Rockies scratched out just one run and three hits against him.
“I didn’t know much about him, other than on video,” Tulowitzki said. “But he was good, he threw hard.”
The Rockies paid for their lack of offense in the 10th inning when Hechavarria took Logan’s 2-1, 85 mph slider and planted it into the forest beyond the center-field wall.
“It was a slider, if that’s what you want to call it,” Logan said. “Off the bat I didn’t think he got it, but then I went back and saw the replay and he barreled it up. It didn’t have depth, it just went side to side. Probably one of the worst sliders I have thrown.”
Logan, in the second year of a three-year, $16.5 million contract, is 0-2 with a 4.66 ERA in 23 appearances. And he’s not the only reliever to fail in the clutch during this homestand. In the second game of a doubleheader Tuesday, Rafael Betancourt served up a ninth-inning grand slam to Alex Guerrero in a 9-8 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“We have been inconsistent at home. We need to get a lot better at home,” manager Walt Weiss said, repeating a phrase he has used repeatedly this season. “We are trying to figure it out. We haven’t gotten on a roll at home and we haven’t been real consistent.”
The Rockies had a chance to win Sunday’s game in the ninth with Nick Hundley on second base and Brandon Barnes on first, but Miami reliever Sam Dyson got pinch-hitter Ben Paulsen to chop out to first.
Carlos Gonzalez tied the game 2-2 in the seventh with a leadoff solo homer off hard-throwing reliever Carter Capps. CarGo had a lot going against him in the at-bat. First, Capps was hurling 99 mph fastballs at him. Second, the Marlins set up in an extreme shift, leaving the left side of the infield wide open. Gonzalez solved the puzzle by hitting Capps’ 85 mph slider over the fence in right-center field and into the Colorado bullpen.
CarGo, who smashed a three-run homer Saturday, homered in consecutive games for the first time in more than a year. He last did it April 30, 2014, at Arizona, followed by May 1 homer against the New York Mets at Coors Field.
The seventh looked as if it had the makings of a big Rockies inning, but it fizzled when Hundley laid down sacrifice bunt with two on and no outs. Nolan Arenado was originally ruled safe at third but replay overturned the call, much to the Rockies’ displeasure.
Kendrick’s day started off rocky but he settled into a groove and departed with the game tied 2-2. He gave up five hits, but four of them came in the first inning. Marcell Ozuna’s two-run groundball single beat the Rockies’ shift to give Miami a 2-0 lead in the first, but Kendrick set down the next 12 batters he faced.
“Kyle threw the ball really well,” Weiss said. “He just executed his pitches. It was his location more than anything else.”
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or
Down in LoDo
The Rockies usually are a winning team at Coors Field, but that’s not the case so far this season:
Record: 11-17
Home runs: 28, sixth in the National League
One-run games: 4-7 record
Average runs per game: 5.14
Note: For comparison, the Rockies were 45-36 and averaged 6.17 runs per game at Coors Field in 2014.
Updated June 8 at 12:21 p.m. Because of an error by a reporter, the score and day of Saturday’s Rockies was incorrect. The game was Saturday and the Rockies won 10-5.
