BULLPEN BLOWS IT
Brewers pull away, win 7-1
MILWAUKEE» When the Rockies limped out of Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon, victims of a three-game sweep by the Brewers, a tale of two bullpens told most of the story.
For the second consecutive day, Rockies relievers were no relief at all as the Brewers pulled away for a 7-1 victory.
Rockies starter Tyler Anderson posted a career-high 10 strikeouts and allowed just two runs in five innings, but he left with a 2-1 deficit that quickly expanded. Milwaukee scored two runs off Chris Rusin and three more off Chad Qualls, who has struggled all season, and that was that. All the momentum gained from winning two of three from the Cubs last weekend has evaporated.
The Milwaukee bullpen allowed just one run in the series over 10 innings.
The Rockies bullpen? Nine runs in eight innings.
“We’re struggling out there right now,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “You have to work through it. We have some young guys out there who are very talented that are learning on the job. And we have some veterans who are searching for some confidence right now.”
With a day off Thursday, the Rockies head to Washington for the weekend needing to find something that works once their starter leaves.
Nolan Arenado stayed hot, giving the Rockies a 1-0 lead on his 34th homer in the first.
While Anderson, a rookie, was delivering another strong start, the Rockies’ normally boisterous bats were noticeably quiet.
The Rockies left the bases loaded in the first and squandered opportunities in the second and fourth innings when they had a leadoff runner on second. The game turned in the sixth. Gerardo Parra led off with a single and moved to second on Cristhian Adames’ two-out walk. Weiss called Anderson back in favor of pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn, meaning the Rockies would be counting on their troublesome bullpen.
“If it’s tied or we’re ahead, he’s going to take that at-bat,” Weiss said of Anderson. “But the fact is, we’re losing. We’ve got 10 outs to play with; we’re having a hard time scoring. At the most, (Anderson) has got one inning left; we still have four innings of pitching to put together. So I’m going to take a shot there with Raburn.”
Raburn struck out to end the threat, and the game started to slip away.
Rusin allowed a leadoff single to Hernan Perez to start the bottom of the sixth, and Perez eventually scored on Orlando Arcia’s bunt that went for a single when catcher Tony Wolters had to field it and Rusin couldn’t cover the plate in time.
Rusin allowed a pinch-hit double to Jake Elmore leading off the seventh, and Jonathan Villar bunted Elmore to third. Weiss replaced Rusin with Qualls, who gave the Rockies hope by striking out Keon Broxton. Braun foiled any hopes by drilling a back-up slider over the fence in center. Chris Carter added an RBI double, and Domingo Santana brought Carter in with a single.
And the Rockies were down and out at 7-1.
Along with the bullpen woes, the Rockies never got their offense going.
“We faced a lot of guys we haven’t faced before,” right fielder Carlos Gonzalez said. “It’s a lottery when you face guys you’ve never seen. They pitched well, and we weren’t able to score a lot of runs. It’s hard to win that way when you don’t hit.”
Anderson’s outing was the lone bright spot.
“I felt good,” Anderson said. “If there’s any kind of positive to take out of this, it’s that I felt good, so I’ll take that, I guess.”