Rox fall to 9-13 in LoDo
REDS 11, ROCKIES 8 Bettis hit hard by the Reds, who erase a 5-1 deficit to win at 20th and Blake.
Coors Field is fast becoming a destination resort for ailing baseball teams. They come to LoDo to take in the mile-high air and get healthy.
San Diego did it this season, and so did Arizona. Monday it was Cincinnati’s turn. The Reds limped into Denver having lost 12 of their last 13 games, but they feasted on poor pitching, swatted five home runs and thumped the Rockies 11-8.
Cincinnati received home runs from Zack Cozart, Joey Votto — who smashed his 200th career homer in the seventh off Jason Motte — Eugenio Suarez and two from Adam Duvall.
It was a disconcerting afternoon for the Rockies on three counts. First, they fell to 9-13 in a ballpark that manager Walt Weiss has often said must be one of the best home-field advantages in baseball. Yet Colorado has begun this homestand losing three of its first four games.
Asked if he was frustrated by his team’s home woes, Weiss stayed positive.
“We got on a little roll there. I think we won (four) straight at home,” he said, referring to a homestand last month that included a three-game sweep of the defending National League champion New York Mets. “But I think if we win these next three games and win this series, I think that tune changes.”
The second big concern is starter Chad Bettis’ struggles. He failed to make it out of the fourth inning. In fact, his 3M innings marked his shortest outing of the season.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Bettis said.
Finally, the Rockies’ offense went into hibernation after posting an early 5-1 lead against starter Dan Straily. It finally woke up in the ninth when Carlos Gonzalez launched a two-run homer to deep center off left-hander Tony Cingrani. A two-out RBI single by Daniel Descalso trimmed the Reds’ lead to 11-8 and prompted them to bring in right-hander J.C. Ramirez to face Dustin Garneau, while the dangerous Nolan Arenado waited on deck. Ramirez got Garneau to pop out to end the game.
There is no way getting around it: Bettis was bad. It wasn’t just that he gave up a leadoff homer to Cozart or that he walked Straily with two outs in the Reds’ five-run fourth inning. It was the fact that his team staked him to a 5-1 lead and he couldn’t take advantage.
Of the crucial walk to Straily, Bettis said: “You can’t have that
happen at that point. It’s an at-bat that swings the whole game. I have to be better than that.”
True, there was some bad luck involved. Duvall’s tworun homer in the fourth was propelled by thunderstorm gusts that carried a wouldbe flyball into the right-field seats. But Bettis’ line spelled out his rough afternoon: six runs, eight hits and two homers allowed. He needed 84 pitches (35 strikes) to get through his short stint. Bettis, who has designs on being the anchor of Colorado’s rotation this season, is 4-4 with a 5.46 ERA.
“It was kind of like the last time out for Chad,” Weiss said, referring to Bettis’ 4Minning outing in a 10-3 loss at Boston. “He was sharp early, and then it looked like he got a lot of pitches on the plate. Usually when a pitcher gets hit like that, it’s location. I think that was the case today.”
The Rockies’ offense clicked early. Charlie Blackmon answered Cozart’s firstinning leadoff homer with one of his own in the bottom of the frame. It was Blackmon’s fourth homer and the 25th consecutive game he has reached base safely. Descalso, getting the start at third base when Arenado got his first day off of the season, ripped a three-run triple down the right-field line in Colorado’s four-run third inning.
After that, Colorado’s bats produced barely a peep until Gonzalez’s blast. The Rockies wasted a chance against reliever Blake Wood in the seventh on a walk by DJ LeMahieu and a double by Gonzalez — two men on with nobody out, and yet the Rockies failed to score. Mark Reynolds grounded out to short, and after Trevor Story walked to load the bases, Descalso grounded out to second to end the inning.
“We’ve got to do a better job right there,” Weiss said. “Second and third and nobody out. You’ve got to score at least one. Ideally you get both of them in. That comes down to execution and being able to slow the game down in those situations.”