PITTSBURGH — The Rockies aspire to better things, like late-season contention and a possible playoff berth.
But as they are discovering on this road trip, there is a fine line between excellence and mediocrity. That was evident Friday night in Colorado’s 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh, a team that’s made the playoffs three consecutive seasons.
The Rockies received a solid start from Eddie Butler, who held his own against Pirates ace Gerrit Cole, who failed to post a strikeout for the first time in his career. They also got another home run from Nolan Arenado. Yet they lost to the Pirates for the eighth consecutive time dating to last season. After opening with a victory in St. Louis, the Rockies have lost three straight on the trip.
The Rockies squandered plenty of chances to score Friday and also ran into some bad luck, such as lining into inning-ending double plays in the first and second innings. But the bottom line is that the Pirates found a way to win again, and the Rockies did not.
“We played well, but we just didn’t get the timely hit. They got the timely hit,” manager Walt Weiss said. “I felt like we had a really nice approach against Cole, we just couldn’t get the timely hit.”
The Rockies had a chance to tie the game in the seventh, but it ended on a perfect throw to the plate by left fielder Starling Marte, who’s fast gained a reputation as a rally killer. Colorado catcher Dustin Garneau hit a one-out single and advanced to second on a groundout. Charlie Blackmon then hit an opposite-field single to Marte and Garneau rounded third with a full head of steam. Marte’s throw — a 100.6 mph bullet from 232 feet out, according to Statcast — had Garneau dead to rights.
“We all know that those guys can throw from the outfield and Marte has a special arm,” Garneau said. “I tried to get as big a lead off second as I could, and tried to get a good read. But the ball one-hopped him and he’s got a freakin’ cannon.
“Aside from plowing (catcher Franciso) Cervelli, I really had no shot. Once the ball was off the bat, I had to go and hope for a bad throw.”
As good as Butler was, he crossed that thin line in the sixth. Marte dinged him for a one-out single and then advanced to second of Butler’s errant pickoff throw to first.
“It was a bad throw, ” Butler said. “That lost us the game right there.”
Butler struck out Cervelli for the second out and appeared on the verge of escaping. Butler then had David Freese behind on a 1-2 count and intentionally threw him a high fastball, but Freese chipped a broken-bat single to center, scoring Marte to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead that stood up.
“He ends up breaking his bat and finds a hole,” Butler lamented. “There’s not much you can do about that.”
Though Butler fell to 2-2, he deserved a better fate. He pitched six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and seven hits. He whittled his ERA down to 3.96.
Singles by DJ LeMahieu and Daniel Descalso frayed the Pirates’ nerves a bit in the ninth, but closer Mark Melancon got Blackmon to pop out to Marte to end the game.
Weiss, however, was not completely buying in to the theory that the Rockies’ lack of timely hits is costing them games.
“At times (it is), but sometimes that’s the way it goes,” he said. “You would like to have the timely hit every night. but I liked our approach tonight. I like the fact that we put together 12 hits against some really good arms. But sometimes you get the timely hits and sometimes you don’t.”
Arenado’s one-out solo homer to left tied the game 1-1 in the sixth. His major league-leading 14th homer of the season came on Cole’s 1-0, 94 mph fastball. Cole didn’t even have to turn around; he knew it was gone the moment it left Arenado’s bat. Seven of Arenado’s home runs have come at Coors Field and seven have come on the road.
The fourth inning was the kind of inning that keeps players — and managers — up at night. The Rockies loaded the bases with one out against Cole on a single by Arenado, a walk to Carlos Gonzalez and a single by Mark Reynolds. But the Rockies failed to push in a run. Cole induced Gerardo Parra to ground out sharply to first baseman John Jaso, who wisely threw home to force out Arenado. Then LeMahieu hit a harmless grounder to second.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp
Looking Ahead
Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (5-3, 3.20 ERA) at Pirates LHP Jonathon Niese (4-2, 5.28), 2:05 p.m. Saturday, ROOT; 850 AM
Chatwood is dueling with buddy Chad Bettis to be the ace of the Colorado staff. On the road this season, Chatwood has been almost perfect. He is 4-0 with a 0.33 ERA and has not allowed a run in his last three road games. That streak of 24 2/3 innings is the second-longest scoreless innings streak on the road in franchise history. Chatwood has never faced the Pirates. Pittsburgh is 6-2 in the eight games Niese has started, but he has been hittable — even at PNC Park, where he is 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA. The Rockies roughed him up at Coors Field on April 27, scoring five runs in five innings. But the Pirates came away with a 9-8 victory in 12 innings.
Sunday: Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (4-2, 4.18 ERA) at Pirates RHP Juan Nicasio (4-3, 4.46), 11:35 a.m., ROOT
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Rockies LHP Chris Rusin (1-2, 4.50) at Red Sox LHP David Price (6-1, 5.53), 5:10 p.m., ROOT
Wednesday: Rockies RHP Jon Gray (1-2, 6.75) at Red Sox RHP Steven Wright (3-4, 2.52), 5:10 p.m., ROOT
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
