MARK KISZLA: HAVE THE ROCKIES RUN OUT OF GAS?
TIGERS 6, ROCKIES 2 Team has a big hill to climb
Before Wednesday afternoon’s game, Bud Black talked about the excitement of upcoming September baseball, made extra spicy with his team chasing a wild-card playoff berth.
“This is what all teams hope for, to be perennial contenders,” the Rockies’ first-year manager said. “That’s what we hope to become. Now we are in it this year, and it’s great for our group and great for the organization and the city and the fans.
“I know, speaking for the players and the coaching staff, we are pumped. Guys are excited.”
A few hours later, the home clubhouse at Coors Field was a somber place after Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander shut down the Rockies 6-2.
In the final game of August, Verlander reminded the Rockies that they have a long, long way to go to hang on to a playoff berth. Detroit’s veteran right-hander dominated for six innings, allowing a single run on three hits and striking out nine as the Tigers won the three-game series.
Heading into September, the Rockies are mired in a long stretch of uneven baseball. They are 20-22 since the all-star break and finished August with a 12-15 record, their first month with a losing record this season. They have scored three runs or fewer in 15 of their past 22 games.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, beat St. Louis 6-5, moving to within three games of the Rockies for the National League’s second wild-card berth. The Rockies are off Thursday before opening an important weekend series against Arizona at Coors Field. The Diamondbacks own the wild-card top spot.
Colorado’s listless offense was no match for Verlander.
“He pounded the zone and he executed pitches,” Rockies catcher Tony Wolters said. “It was pretty simple. He used his secondary pitches really well, worked the counts and kept us guessing.”
Verlander has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 11 of his past 12 starts, and improved to 31-5 all-time in interleague play.
With Verlander pitching like an
ace, the Rockies needed Chad Bettis to at least keep them within striking distance, but he allowed five runs in five innings. Bettis, 0-2 with a 4.88 ERA in four starts since returning from his battle against testicular cancer, was shaky from the outset.
“He was behind in the count a little bit, right from the get-go,” Black said.
Bettis’ two walks set up an RBI single by Verlander in the second inning, the first RBI of Verlander’s career. The big blow by the Tigers was a two-out, three-run blast by James McCann in the fifth. Bettis hung a slider and paid for it. “The back-breaker,” Black said.
“It was supposed to be a slider down and away and it was middlemiddle,” Bettis said. “It was a poorly executed pitch in a pivotal moment of the game. You’ve got to be better than that.”
Colorado’s lone run off Verlander was a 424-foot homer by Charlie Blackmon to lead off the sixth, his 32nd.