OAKLAND, Calif. — There is a field inside a field at the O.co Coliseum, where the Athletics play baseball. There is the field between the lines — and the giant expanse of a greenbelt that surrounds it.
It’s like a baseball field ate another baseball field and now lays around bloated and hung over.
Oakland’s backstop is 60 feet behind home plate. A straight line from second base to first base goes 90 feet, then nearly another 90 to the nearest seat. The dugouts are set so far back, they don’t need protection from hitters — they’re the only big-league dugouts without a fence in front of them.
“It’s unique. It’s a tough hitter’s park,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said Monday before his team’s series opener against the Athletics. “It’s a good park to pitch in; you’ll lose some at-bats in foul ground.”
For David Hale and the Rockies, it was a run monster. The A’s pounced on Colorado’s starter for four runs in the first inning — including two home runs and three runs within seven pitches — on their way to a 7-1 blowout of the Rockies in front of a season-low Oakland crowd of 12,125 fans.
“They came out swinging,” Hale said. “I guess I left a few over the plate or something.”
The Rockies dropped to 0-7 in interleague play this season. And they lost a 14th consecutive interleague game on the road — the second-longest skid in baseball since interleague play was adopted interleague in 1997.
A’s right fielder Josh Reddick turned on Hale’s first-pitch fastball in the first inning for a no-doubt home run to right field. That scored Stephen Vogt. Seven pitches later, after Billy Butler singled, first baseman Ike Davis rocketed a Hale curveball to right for another two-run homer.
It was a Halestorm. For good measure, Butler hit another home run off the right-hander in the fourth to give the A’s a 5-0 lead. It was more than enough.
“The first inning hurt me,” Hale said. “After that, I settled down, I actually felt really good today. But unfortunately that first inning kind of put us in a hole.”
Hale got through seven innings on 100 pitches — he allowed nine hits and five runs. On the bright side, he didn’t walk anybody. And the Rockies extended their walk-free streak to 16 innings.
On the other hand, between Hale (three), Kyle Kendrick (two) and Christian Bergman (one), Colorado has allowed six home runs in two games.
And while the A’s were rollicking on the bases, the Rockies’ offense passed out. Troy Tulowitzki singled three times but never made it to second base. No other batter had multiple hits. Charlie Blackmon put the Rockies on the board in the eighth with a solo homer.
“They jumped on us early, got out to a big lead — and trying to play catch-up is never an easy thing,” Tulowitzki said.
For a hitter, this coliseum is something like Coors Field’s evil twin. Pitchers love the extra room for catchable foul balls. Hitters hate having to think about it.
“You’re going to steal a few outs if you’re a pitcher,” Weiss said. “Guys will run a long ways and catch some foul pops. In the newer stadiums, there’s very little foul ground. So this place is unique.”
After losing two of three across the bay in San Francisco over the weekend, the Rockies dropped deeper into a hole on this 10-game road trip. They recently finished an eight-game homestand at 4-4.
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or
