Noah Spirek | @NoahSpirek | May 26, 2024
On Saturday night at Coors Field, the game began with a dark, heavy array of clouds overhead. Other than a few innings of drizzle, the rain held off, and Rockies starter Dakota Hudson shined like a ray of sunlight. However, the light was later drowned out by the dark reality of a blown save by the Colorado Rockies bullpen. Despite entering the final frame with a lead, the Rockies’ pen faltered and allowed six runs to come across the plate in the 9th.
Table of Contents
Game Recap
Both teams came out of the gates hot offensively. In the top of the 1st inning, Bryce Harper opened the scoring with an RBI single that scored Kyle Schwarber. However, more damage was done that won’t appear in the scorecard, as rookie outfielder Jordan Beck left the game after making a fabulous catch to end the inning. During his postgame press conference, Bud Black revealed that Beck has suffered a broken left hand.
In the bottom of the 1st, the Rockies tied the game on an RBI knock from Brendan Rodgers. The hit came with two outs, after Ryan McMahon and Kris Bryant had earned walks in front of B-Rod. In the 2nd inning, an infield single and a stolen base from Brenton Doyle put him in scoring position, and Jacob Stallings drove him in with a single, giving the Rockies a 2-1 advantage.
In the 3rd, Rockies starter Dakota Hudson pitched himself into a jam after plunking Johan Rojas and walking Schwarber to begin the inning. However, Hudson was able to retire Bryson Stott, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm to escape the threat. He got some help from Hunter Goodman on this beautiful sliding snag.
In the bottom half of the inning, Ezequiel Tovar led off the inning with a hit and advanced to scoring position on a Philadelphia error. Two batters later, Kris Bryant brought Tovar in with an RBI groundout, making it 3-1 Colorado.
After a scoreless 4th inning, the Phillies closed the gap in the top of the 5th via a Kyle Schwarber sacrifice fly, and the Rockies lead shrunk to 3-2. This would be the final marker of the ballgame until the fatal ninth inning.
Up until the ninth, however, the Rockies gathered strong performances from their arms. Hudson’s quality start made it the fifth consecutive quality start by the Rockies staff. After Dakota exited, reliever Victor Vodnik got two outs in the seventh, and lefty Jalen Beeks dominated the heart of the Phillies lineup for four huge outs. After giving up a hit to Kyle Schwarber, Beeks retired Bryson Stott, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, and Nick Castellanos in succession.
In the ninth, Bud Black sent Jalen Beeks to the mound to attack lefty Brandon Marsh leading off the inning, but Beeks walked Marsh, which summoned Justin Lawrence to take over. J-Law promptly allowed a game-tying triple to Edmundo Sosa and a go-ahead single to Garrett Stubbs, flipping a 3-2 Rockies lead into a 4-3 deficit. Lawrence then induced a double play, and it looked like the Rockies had a good chance to go into the bottom of the ninth only down by one.
Unfortunately, a Kyle Schwarber double and Bryson Stott walk chased Lawrence from the game, and John Curtiss was given a tough ask to face Bryce Harper. Harper swiftly launched an opposite-way three-run homer to blow the game open, 7-3. An Alec Bohm double and a Nick Castellanos single drove the deficit to 8-3, securely putting the game out of reach.
The Rockies scratched a run across in the bottom of the ninth on a Charlie Blackmon double that scored Hunter Goodman, but ultimately Colorado fell 8-4.
Quotes
Bud Black on the bullpen struggles: “You know who’s frustrated? The eight guys in the pen… They’ll do everything they can to right the ship and us as coaches will do everything and then their teammates as well will help them.”
Bud Black on the starting pitching: “The starting pitching is the backbone of a team’s success. We play 162 games, if you have good starting pitching over 162 games, you should have a pretty good record. We’ve had a nice run of starts, I’m proud of the guys.”
Bud Black on what made Dakota Hudson effective: “I think the breaking ball was good. I think his slider was effective. He threw some good fastballs at times but I think it boiled down to his use of the breaking ball, and he shapes it a little bit differently – he adds and subtracts a little bit – but I think it was the breaking ball.”
Noah’s Notes
In the ninth inning of the ballgame, Charlie Blackmon hit a double, marking his 600th career extra-base hit. The feat also pulled him into second all-time in Rockies history in extra-base hits.
Dakota Hudson’s quality start tonight marked the fifth consecutive quality start by the Rockies pitching staff. It is the longest stretch of consecutive quality starts since June 29 – July 7 of 2021, when the Rockies strung together 8 consecutive quality starts.
For the first time in his young career, Brenton Doyle swiped three stolen bases in the same game.
Tonight’s attendance at Coors Field was 37,535.
What’s Next for the Rockies?
Today, the Rockies host the Phillies in the rubber match of the series at 1:10 MT. Probable starters are LHP Ranger Suárez (9-0, 1.36 ERA) for the Phillies and RHP Cal Quantrill (3-3, 3.59 ERA) for the Rockies. Both pitchers have previously pitched against the opponents earlier this season, as on April 16 vs Colorado, Suárez twirled a complete game shutout, allowing just seven hits and striking out eight on 112 pitches. Quantrill, who has thrown four straight quality starts, also earned a ‘QS’ against Philadelphia on April 15, when he threw six innings of one-run ball, but took a no-decision.
Missed yesterday’s recap? Click here.
Story by Noah Spirek
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