Colorado, lacking one key hit, opens road trip with another loss
PITTSBURGH » The song remains the same.
The Rockies lost a 2-1 ballgame Monday at PNC Park on a night when one key hit could have made all the difference. Instead, they hit 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
“We talked about it today (before the game),” manager Bud Black said. “We talked about (getting) the big hit. And it just didn’t come tonight.”
Indeed, clutch hitting has been an extremely rare commodity for Colorado on the road this season, where it is hitting .203 with runners in scoring position vs. a .313 average back home at Coors Field.
Perhaps it was karma, then, that the weak-hitting Pirates scored the winning run on a two-out infield hit in the eighth inning. Yoshi Tsutsugo did the honors, grounding the ball to second baseman Brandon Rodgers, who almost made a great scoop and throw to nail Tsutsugo at first.
Instead, Ke’bryan Hayes, who led off the inning with a single off Tyler Kinley, scored from third.
The Rockies, now 5-11 on the road, have lost 11 of their last 14 games after starting the season 16-11.
“This is a professional ballclub and we are going to be fine,” said right-hander Chad Kuhl, who struggled with command but still held the Pirates to one run over 4L innings. “We know that on any night we are going to run out a really good starter, the defense is solid and the bats are going to be there.
“It just might be kind of our time to have a bad stretch. That just might be it. It’s not going to stay this way for much longer.”
The Rockies walked a tightrope much of the night but their defense, which actually has not been good for much of the season, saved them from collapsing earlier in the game.
A key moment arrived in the Pirates’ seventh. Rodolfo Casto’s leadoff double off reliever Ty Blach had the Rockies teetering. Castro advanced to third on Jack Suwinski’s sinking line drive to right field where Charlie Blackmon made a nice, sliding catch for the first out.
Next, Pittsburgh catcher Michael Peters hit a hard chopper to Rodgers, who fired to home.
Rodgers’ throw was a bit offtarget but catcher Elias Diaz made an excellent tag on Castro sliding home.
Umpire Jordan Baker originally ruled Castro safe but the call was overturned upon video review.
Kuhl, facing the team he pitched for during his first five seasons in the majors, was far from razor-sharp, as his four walks indicated.
“I had no slider and that’s something that I usually rely on for swing-and-misses, for outs and for strike one,” he said. “I just didn’t have it all, so all you can do is battle and stay out there as long as you can.”
Kuhl needed 103 pitches (58 strikes) to maneuver through his relatively short evening.
“A lot of pitches,” Black said. “He was a little erratic, obviously, but the positive thing is that he made some pitches when he really needed to and got some huge outs.
“That’s really good to see … when a pitcher’s not on the top of his game but he wiggles out of (trouble). He kept a cool head, was composed and didn’t rattle. I really liked the battle from Chad Kuhl tonight.”
The Pirates struck quickly in the first inning.
Ben Gamel drew a leadoff walk, took second on Kuhl’s wild pitch and scored on a double by Hayes.
Kuhl dodged trouble in the fourth thanks to Colorado’s defense. Josh Vanmeter ripped a one-out triple to left-center but he was stranded when Diaz, another former Pirate, threw out Rodolfo Castro trying to steal second base. Kuhl got Jack Suwinski to pop out to third baseman Ryan Mcmahon for the third out.
Colorado managed to tie the game in the fourth inning without getting a hit. Ryan Mcmahon drew a leadoff walk off starter JT Brubaker and advanced to third when Brubaker threw wildly into center field attempting to force Mcmahon at second base on Rodgers’ groundball.
Randal Grichuk grounded into a double play but Mcmahon scored to knot the game, 1-1.
Brubaker, who shut out the Rockies for six innings in Pittsburgh’s 7-0 victory at PNC last May, tossed 6 M innings, giving up five hits and two walks while fanning four.