San Diego — The Rockies’ annual June swoon is now in full bloom, arriving on the heels of their mid-May malaise.
With starter Chad Bettis struggling again and clutch hits scarce, the Rockies lost 4-3 to the San Diego Padres on Saturday night at Petco Park. Colorado is 0-for-June, having lost four straight. Since their five-game winning streak ended May 17, they are 4-13. And Petco continues to dog the Rockies. It’s a place where they have now lost 21 of their last 27 games.
The sixth inning symbolized the Rockies’ struggles. DJ LeMahieu drew a walk off San Diego starter Andrew Cashner to load the bases. Nolan Arenado, Colorado’s best player, swung mightily for the fences but couldn’t connect. In the end, he tapped out weakly to first base, ending the inning.
Manager Walt Weiss agreed that the slumping Rockies might be gripping the bat too tightly or swinging too hard.
“Yeah, I see some of that,” he said. “Charlie (Blackmon) got a big hit for us, but after that we couldn’t get a timely hit. We had some opportunities and we had our big guys up there, but yeah, I see some guys trying to create some things and putting out big swings to try and get a big inning.”
LeMahieu, who went 0-for-4 with a walk, is not quite sure what’s wrong.
“We had our chances tonight for sure, but we just couldn’t get that big hit,” he said. “I don’t know if we are pressing or not, but everyone wants to get that big hit and be that guy so bad. But nobody came through, when we usually do.”
The Rockies were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11. Gerardo Parra grounded into inning-ending double plays in the third and fifth innings, but credit shortstop San Diego shortstop Alexei Ramirez for Gold Glove plays on both of those.
Bettis, so sharp earlier this season, suffered through his third consecutive rough start, his ERA rising to 5.58. He was charged with four runs on 10 hits over five innings. Home runs, especially on the road, continue to haunt the right-hander. Wil Myers crushed a 3-2 fastball to left off Bettis in the first inning, putting Colorado in a 1-0 hole. Derek Norris’ two-run homer to center in the second put the Padres ahead 3-2. Bettis has given up 11 home runs this season, and, curiously, nine of them have come away from Coors Field.
“It’s just unfortunate that those two balls got out of the yard on me, that’s what hurt me,” Bettis said.
As has usually been the case during his current funk, Bettis didn’t locate pitches well.
“He had some pitches get elevated,” Weiss said. “He had to work hard to get through five (innings). It didn’t come easy for him, but he fought through it tonight.”
Weiss gave Bettis credit for hanging tough and keeping Colorado in the game, especially in the fifth inning, which had the makings of a disaster. Myers scorched a leadoff double down the left-field line, but he was erased at third on a nice scoop and throw by shortstop Trevor Story on Matt Kemp’s grounder. Arenado also contributed to Bettis’ rescue with an unassisted putout at third on Melvin Upton Jr.’s sharp grounder. Bettis got Brett Wallace to hit a chopper back to the mound, ending the inning.
In the fourth, Mark Reynolds cut San Diego’s lead to 4-3 with a 402-foot, solo home run to center to lead off the inning. It was his third homer, his first since April 27, a span of 121 plate appearances.
And while the Rockies continue struggling to piece together solid innings, they temporarily reversed that trend in the second. Reynolds doubled into the right-field corner and Nick Hundley singled up the middle. That’s when Blackmon drove them both in, hammering a double to right-center, extending his his on-base streak to 30 consecutive games.
