Rockies: Bullpen melts down late in 4-3 loss to Padres.
Colorado lets one slip away; Brewers gain ground in wild-card race
The afternoon shadows on the field are longer and a chilly rainstorm was a reminder that fall is just around the corner. September baseball is here and that means late-season baseball drama is back at Coors Field for the first time since 2010.
The Rockies, however, could have avoided one chapter of that drama and given themselves some wild-card breathing room Sunday had they just closed the deal. Instead, their bullpen blew the game and closer Greg Holland dropped the ball — literally — as San Diego rallied for a 4-3 victory.
With 12 games remaining on its schedule, Colorado holds a 2Kgame lead over Milwaukee in the race for the second wild-card spot, anda4 K-game lead over St. Louis. The Brewers routed Miami 10-3 Sunday.
Matt Szczur scored the winning run in the ninth on a squeeze bunt by Austin Hedges. Holland tagged Szczur as he slid into home, but Holland dropped the ball and was charged with an error, as well as the loss.
“We were kind of in no-man’s land. I decided to tag him myself, because I saw him out of the corner of my eye,” Holland said, explaining why he chose to tag Szczur instead of tossing the ball to catcher Jonathan Lucroy. “I should have went in with two hands. They gave us a gift and chance to get out of the inning there and I didn’t do it.”
Holland said impact with the ground knocked the ball out of his glove.
Rockies manager Bud Black had no problem with Holland’s play.
“Instincts will take over,” Black said. “(Lucroy) wants to go get the ball. But Greg is such a great fielder, he pounced on it. Greg made a great play. It’s a do-or-die play. He came up with it in his glove. He dove. And the umpire was about to call him out, it looked like. Then the ball came out of his glove. It was a great play by Greg.”
Still, it was another disconcerting outing by Holland, who was so good early in the season en route to his third All-Star Game. After an awful stretch from Aug. 6-26 when he went 0-4 with three blown saves a 19.89 ERA, Holland appeared to have regained his command this month. He had four saves and a victory in September and seemed to have once again harnessed his slider. Until Sunday’s rough outing.
After striking out Erick Aybar to open the ninth, Holland walked Szczur and gave up an infield single to Allen Cordoba as Szczur advanced to third, setting up the game’s deciding play.
“It (stinks),” Holland said. “I mean, (starter) Jon (Gray) has been throwing great. And our bullpen has been doing very well of late. But (San Diego) just got some timely hits. We still had a chance to win it if I don’t walk a guy and give them a free pass. That one is on me, today.”
The loss spoiled another excellent start by Gray, who pitched five scoreless innings before a 1-hour, 23-minute rain delay halted his day.
The Rockies led 3-1 in the eighth until reliever Pat Neshek gave up a two-out single to Carlos Asuaje, then reliever Jake McGee allowed a double to Yangervis Solarte. Into the game came righthander Scott Oberg. Pitching carefully to slugger Wil Myers, Oberg walked him on four pitches, loading the bases for Hector Sanchez, who ripped a double to right, tying the game 3-3.
The Rockies jumped to an early 3-0 lead against former Colorado starter Jhoulys Chacin, with Trevor Story‘s two-run double the big blow. But that was the extent of Colorado’s offense.
“We couldn’t get anything going against their relievers,” Black lamented. “Their bullpen outpitched our bullpen. That’s as plain as you can put it.”