ROCKIES FALL AGAIN TO BREWERS
Aguilar powers another Brewers win as race for wild-card playoff berths tightens
The Rockies’ defense commits a seasonhigh four errors in an 8-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.
Alexi Amarista, the Rockies’ 5foot-5 Venezuelan utility man, earned the nickname “Little Ninja” in San Diego because, his backup catcher observed, “he sneaks up on you.” There was nothing stealthy about his sprint down the first-base line in the seventh inning of the Rockies’ 8-4 loss to the Brewers on Sunday.
His comebacker off the pitcher’s leg landed at the feet of Jesus Aguilar — Milwaukee’s hulking 6-foot-3, 250-pound first baseman — who hip-checked Amarista into the air, then tagged him out. Colorado got steamrolled.
The rubber match of a threegame series with lasting wildcard playoff implications drew a crowd of 32,426 to LoDo to see the Rockies’ offense stumble to eight sporadic hits against a parade of Brewers pitchers. And the Colorado defense committed a season-high four errors.
Aguilar wrecked the Rockies again. Saturday night, his pinchhit, two-run homer sank Greg Holland in a 6-3 victory for the Brewers. About 14 hours later, Aguilar homered in his first atbat against Kyle Freeland, off an up-and-in fastball that went far and out to the left-field bleachers.
“He had a bat in his hands. And he’s a big boy. He has a lot of power,” Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez said of Aguilar, a Brewers backup. “A guy coming from the bench and hitting a shot to win the game and then today he played because he hit that big home run and he hits two more. We weren’t expecting that.”
Charlie Blackmon’s bloop single to lead off the first led to Colorado’s first run. Mark Reynolds sacrificed him home with a flyball to center. The Rockies didn’t score again until Reynolds hit a solo homer to lead off the eighth.
In a drawn-out slog of a game, Milwaukee pecked at Freeland for four hits and five walks, slowly bleeding Colorado in a rout.
“I know defense doesn’t like standing out there for a long time, and when there are walks, feet get heavy,” said Freeland, a rookie left-hander. “But there were situations I had to pitch myself out
of. The cause of that was walks.”
A dogfight for the National League wild-card playoff berths will wait. The Rockies (68-56) remained atop that two-team subboard, if barely. The Diamondbacks (67-57) were swept at Minnesota after a blowout loss and remained a game behind. And the Brewers (65-60), despite stealing a series in Denver, hardly staked a claim to surge. They are 2½ games behind Arizona.
Coors Field was supposed to wrap the Rockies in a blanket of offensive comfort. A seven-game homestand against the Braves and Brewers seemed like a model time to put rhythm back in a stuttering lineup. But the Rockies scored only 14 runs in four losses, averaging 3.5 runs per game as Atlanta and Milwaukee won two apiece. In their three victories, the Rockies scored a total of 28 runs (averaging 9.3 per game). They did not sustain that mojo.
“You’d like to think there would be some carryover from the big numbers,” manager Bud Black said. “We’re getting guys on base, but man, we just can’t string them together and get that one big one. That’s been the downfall of the offense. When we get guys out there, we haven’t been able to get them in. That has to change.”
Sunday, the Rockies flailed with raised stakes, going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position through the first six innings. After Gonzalez lined a double off the wall in center field to lead off the fourth, Trevor Story bunted into an ill-conceived popout, Ryan Hanigan grounded out and Freeland struck out. Gonzalez never flinched.
In the sixth, after Gerardo Parra singled to lead off, he spiked his bat into the infield grass, relieving the frustration of a ground-down day. Gonzalez walked to move him over. But Story struck out on a full count and Jonathan Lucroy grounded out. Inning wasted.
“Not one of our better games,” Black said.
Freeland struck out seven, but his five walks tied a career high. He breezed through the first inning on just 11 pitches, but the 24year-old needed 70 over the next four. He walked Orlando Arcia after a full count with two outs in the fifth to draw Black’s hook. Pinch-hitter Neil Walker followed with an RBI single off lefty Chris Rusin.
Milwaukee right-hander Chase Anderson returned from an oblique muscle injury to pitch just five innings, but he gave up only two hits. The Rockies never found footing.
“It was a slow game. We didn’t play pretty,” Gonzalez said. “We made a lot of mistakes. And that never helps the pitching staff. And our offense was really quiet today.”