Noah Spirek | @NoahSpirek | June 5, 2024

Coming into this three-game series at Coors Field, the Cincinnati Reds had not won a series at Colorado since 2016. With last night’s 4-1 win following their victory on Monday, that stretch is now over. The Rockies will look to avoid being swept in the series finale matinee on Wednesday.

Game Story

The Cincinnati Reds did their damage early and often on Tuesday night. In the top of the 1st inning, the Reds opened the game with back-to-back bunts. After a leadoff bunt single from Stuart Fairchild, Elly De La Cruz bunted him to scoring position, which set up a Spencer Steer RBI double, giving Cincinnati a 1-0 lead in the first frame of the game.

The Reds added another run in the 3rd on a De La Cruz home run. His 10th of the season was blasted 448 feet into the trees beyond center field. In the 4th, after allowing the first two batters of the inning to reach, Rockies starter Ty Blach nearly escaped the inning by retiring the next two hitters. However, with two outs, back-to-back RBI singles by Luke Maile and Stuart Fairchild gave the Reds a 4-0 advantage.

For the first six innings on Tuesday, the Rockies could not solve Cincinnati starter RHP Frankie Montas. Through six, Colorado did not record a hit. In fact, their first baserunner of the ballgame came in the 4th via a Ryan McMahon walk. The Rockies finally broke the ice in the hit column with a 7th inning leadoff double from Elias Díaz, but Montas retired the next three men in order, neutralizing the threat. Montas ended up pitching seven innings of one hit baseball. He struck out nine and walked two, and the outing lowered his season ERA to an even 4.00.

After Montas’ departure, the Rockies offense struggled through a 1-2-3 8th inning. In the 9th, Colorado narrowly avoided a shutout as with two outs, a Brendan Rodgers double scored Díaz. Colorado fell on Tuesday by a final score of 4-1.

Quotes

Manager Bud Black on Frankie Montas: “He did a number of things well. Started with the fastball both at the top of the zone and below… it had carry when it was up and action when it was down. Then you mix in the slider… he had it working. I mean his stuff is legit.”

Bud Black on Ty Blach: “They chipped away at him… The Reds did a pretty good job of taking the ball to right field. Their approach was up-the-middle, the other way, which a lot of teams do against Ty… and Ty just couldn’t command that fastball inside as well as we’ve seen in [past] times.”

Bud Black on struggling Rockies offense: “The Dodgers shut us down. We got the four runs on Friday night and then [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto got us and then [Gavin] Stone and their bullpen got us. [Against Andrew] Abbott I thought we had a couple of chances to get him last night and we just couldn’t get a big hit and today Montas got us. It happens. These four games we haven’t swung the bats great.”

Notes

Frankie Montas pitched a season-high seven innings, his longest outing since 2022 when he was a member of the Oakland A’s. His six no-hit innings marked the second-longest no-hit bid of his career, trailing 7.2 no-hit innings he tossed against the Seattle Mariners in 2022.

Elias Díaz broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff double in the seventh inning, and he recorded his 18^th multi-hit game on the year, the second most on the team behind Ezequiel Tovar, who has 22 such games.

What’s Next for the Colorado Rockies?

On Wednesday, the Rockies host the Reds for the final game of their three-game series. Probable starters are RHP Graham Ashcraft (4-3, 4.76 ERA) for Cincinnati and RHP Dakota Hudson (2-7, 5.02 ERA) for Colorado. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 MT.

After the ballgame Wednesday, the Rockies will head to St. Louis to begin a four-game series against Nolan Arenado and the Cardinals on Thursday.

Story by Noah Spirek.

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