Despite being tied going into the ninth inning, the Colorado Rockies' bullpen surrendered a go-ahead, game-winning homer to the Seattle Mariners.
There have been countless games this season where the Colorado Rockies have played really hard against formidable opponents. Yes, the Seattle Mariners aren't that good this season but they still have some heavy hitters on their roster.
One of them might be right fielder Lazaro Montes, who came into Friday night's game with a .250 batting average. Montes, though, managed to hammer a Jordan Romano pitch over the right-field fence and that gave the Mariners a 5-4 win over a game Rockies team.
Jake McCarthy, Cole Carrigg, and Connor Norby all had three-hit games and the Rockies put up 15 hits against Seattle pitching. Yet Colorado was not able to come through in the ninth inning and now, well, it's almost a foregone conclusion that 100 losses will appear again in this team's overall record.
Hughes had decent outing
Ezequiel Tovar had two hits as well in the Colorado offensive attack, but to no avail. Also, the Rockies' pitching staff tried to tone down the Mariners' offense, yet that was a tough assignment.
Gabriel Hughes worked 4.2 innings, giving up five hits, three earned runs, walked one, struck out six, and gave up a home run. Mike Manfredi was first out of the bullpen and worked 1.1 innings of one-hit ball.
Brennan Bernardino, though, suffered a blown save against Seattle. In one inning, he allowed one hit and one earned run. Jaden Hill then followed with a solid inning before Romano came on and gave up the game-winner to the Mariners.
After the Mariners got a head start with a three-run first inning, it looked like the Rockies were playing catch-up ball all night long. Carrigg's RBI single in the bottom of the first inning got Colorado on the board.
Rockies' offense battles back
McCarthy's RBI single in the bottom of the fourth drew the Rockies closer at 3-2. McCarthy's RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth let Tovar score and things were tied up at 3-3. In the same inning, Norby singled to center and McCarthy scored. That put Colorado up 4-3.
Dominic Canzone's sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning sent the game into a 4-4 deadlock, setting the scene for Montes' heroics in the ninth.
It's just another bitter loss this season for Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer's team. The lineup did its job in producing some solid offensive play. But take a look at this statistic as it says a lot. Colorado went 4-for-20 with runners in scoring position and left 12 total runners on base.
So, there were plenty of scoring opportunities and the Rockies were not able to turn those into more runs. Colorado is two losses away from 100. The team has shown improvement this season, yet seeing those scoring opportunities come back to bite them will be something to review in the offseason.
