Sometimes, all you really need to know about a baseball game can be summed up by the tone, and outcome, of the first inning.
Such was the case in the Rockies’ 5-2 loss to the Brewers in Thursday’s series opener, where a few unfortunate first-inning plays epitomized the way the rest of the game shook out.
First, Lorenzo Cain took German Marquez deep 431 feet to center field for a home run on the first pitch of the game. Then, in the bottom half of the frame, the Rockies went down in an unconventional 1-2-3 fashion. After DJ LaMahieu singled to lead off, Charlie Blackmon lined out to first and LaMahieu was doubled off. Then Nolan Arenado fouled out.
It was only a 1-0 deficit, but the energy had been zapped out of Coors Field in what was already a sparsely attended game, although Colorado’s struggling offense got an early spark via Trevor Story’s second-inning solo homer to even the game 1-1.
In the third, the Brewers loaded the bases with one out and were a swing or two away from chasing Marquez from the game. But the right-hander bared down, allowing only one run in the jam on a sacrifice fly by Manny Pina to make the score 2-1.
But Milwaukee finally got to Marquez in the fifth with three runs. The backbreaker was a two-out line drive by Cain that skirted off the top of Ian Desmond’s glove at first and into right field for a hit, scoring two to make it 5-1.
“(Marquez) looked uncomfortable the whole night,” manager Bud Black said. “He struggled with fastball command, and with German, he’s a fastball pitcher with secondary (offspeed) that comes into play. But it seemed like he couldn’t really locate the heater, and then as the game wore on, he was a little inconsistent with the breaking ball with the curve and the slider.”
The bottom of the fifth brought Desmond a bit of redemption when he led off with a triple to left-center. When the throw to third sailed into the dugout, enabling Desmond to trot home to a standing ovation, the Rockies were down 5-2 and seemingly had a momentum boost.
Colorado’s bullpen furthered that feeling, as Harrison Musgrave tossed two scoreless (and hitless) innings in the sixth and seventh, and Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee set the Brewers down in order in the eighth and ninth, respectively.
But the Rockies’ bats continue to remain silent. Their best chance to overcome a deficit of two or more runs and win for the first time this season was snuffed out in the sixth, when Gerardo Parra came to the plate with one out and the bases loaded, only to hit into a 5-2-3 double play.
“Gerardo went with the outside pitch and just hit a hard ground ball right to the third baseman,” Black said. “It was unfortunate, because we hit a couple balls on the nose but didn’t have anything to show for it.”
From there, Colorado only mustered one more baserunner.
Looking ahead
Brewers RHP Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 3.86 ERA) at Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (4-1, 2.05), 6:40 p.m., ATTRM
The Brewers called up Woodruff from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Thursday, and the second-year righty returns to the big leagues after posting a 2-0 record and 1.89 ERA in four starts for the Sky Sox. The Rockies saw little of him in just one start last August, putting up one run on five hits through 4 ⅔ innings at Coors Field. Meanwhile, the Brewers have fared decent in their collective 53 at-bats against Bettis, hitting .340, although the Rockies’ right-hander is coming off a seven-inning, no-run gem against the Mets and has been Colorado’s most consistent starter in 2018.
Saturday: Brewers RHP Chase Anderson (3-3, 3.97) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (2-4, 3.95), 6:10 p.m., ATTRM
ܲԻ岹:Brewers TBA. at Rockies RHP Jon Gray (4-4, 4.24), 1:10 p.m. ATTRM
Monday: Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (2-1, 4.23) at Padres LHP Joey Lucchesi (3-2, 2.98), 10:10 p.m. ATTRM
