Jun. 26—Things looked good for the Rockies on Saturday. Then the bullpen took over.
They weren’t exactly cruising, but they did enough to control a 4-3 lead over the Brewers after five innings. But, for the second day in a row, the relievers blew the lead, and the Rockies fell to the Brewers 10-4.
On this road trip, the Rockies’ hitting has come together, something that has been eluding them until this point. Starting pitching has gotten the job done, even on a day like Saturday, when Antonio Senzatela wasn’t his best. But now the problem rests on their relievers.
“The bullpen inconsistency has come back to bite us,” manager Bud Black said. “Offensively we are doing a little bit better. I’ve said it all along, you have to combine all three facets — you have to hit, you have to pitch and you have to play defense to win games on the road. So far we haven’t been able to put it together.”
After using seven out of nine members of their bullpen Friday, when they blew a 4-0 lead set up by a stellar start by Jon Gray, the Rockies entered Saturday hoping for a long outing from Senzatela. He started off slowly, getting called for two balks in the first inning and needing 35 pitches to get through the inning.
He’s been called for a balk before — twice in 2017 and three times in 2019 — but was surprised when the umpires called it Saturday. His teammates and pitching coaches kept him upbeat after the first inning, and he made it through five innings, allowing three runs and keeping the Rockies in the game.
Jhoulys Chacín, who hit 10 years of major league service time this week, took over from there. He pitched a scoreless sixth, but gave up a home run to Avisaíl García in the seventh to tie the game at 4-4.
For most teams, this would signify that they still had a chance. But then Carlos Estévez walked the first batter, and hit the second with a pitch to open the eighth inning. He allowed four earned runs before Ben Bowden was handed the ball with one out. On the first pitch, he gave up a two-run home run to Christian Yelich to put the game completely out of reach.
“Carlos beat himself,” Black said. “He’ll be the first to tell you.”
The bullpen spoiled what was a decent offensive game. Trevor Story hit a home run, losing his balance but still summing up enough power to send it over the center-field wall. Yonathan Daza and Brendan Rodgers both had multihit games.