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Rockies drop another road game, this time to Diamondbacks on a walk-off hit by pitch

Rockies Diamondbacks Baseball

Watch out, Chase Field walls. 

The Rockies, for the 32nd time in 38 games, came up empty on the road, this time falling to the Diamondbacks 4-3 on a walk-off hit by pitch. They had chances all game, as has typically been the case, but couldn’t string together hits when they needed it most.

“We bang our heads against the wall trying to figure that out, we really do,” manager Bud Black said. “It comes down to we are just not producing enough offense on the road.”

The team won’t say it outright, but it’s evident by their actions: they are frustrated. And who wouldn’t be, if they were playing exceptionally well at home but historically awful on the road. They are 31-17 at Coors Field, a .646 winning percentage that ranks them in the top seven of the league.

“It’s definitely hurtful,” pitcher Jon Gray said. “We know how we’ve been on the road this year. It’s been a lot of close games.”

It isn’t for a lack of trying, they say. They’ve made changes — early batting practice to adjust to different altitude levels, additional meetings to study opposing pitchers. But none of it has made much of a difference.

On Tuesday, the Rockies fell behind 3-0 in the first, as Gray gave up four doubles and three runs before retiring a batter. 

He realized after the first inning that his change-up was staying in, and his fastball was hanging over the middle of the plate. He was able to make those adjustments, and recovered to pitch five scoreless innings after that. 

“I had to forget what happened from there and treat it as a new game,” Gray said. 

But even the 23-63 Diamondbacks were too much for the Rockies’ road offense. The Rockies were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, leaving six on base.

“We couldn’t get the big blow to add onto the inning as the game progressed,”  Black said. “If got a little something more than what we got, the game’s different. That’s baseball.”

With one out in the second, Brendan Rodgers hit a deep double, but made a poor base running decision to get tagged out. In the fourth, Rodgers again came up with an extra-base hit, this time sending Blackmon home, but they added no additional runs.

Next time around, CJ Cron had a base hit, and Raimel Tapia had a RBI single, but Tapia was left in scoring position. And the story was similar in the fifth, with two on and one out yet nothing to show for it.

In the sixth they tied the score, which could have easily come innings ago, off a RBI ground out down the third-base line from Yonathan Daza. They had no hits in the seventh, eighth or ninth innings. 

After Gray left the game, they sent out their veterans to get the job done. Jholuys Chacín took care of business in the seventh, Carlos Estévez did the same in the eighth and Daniel Bard was on the mound in the ninth. 

But Bard, who has been up and down all season, loaded the bases after allowing a hit and two walks. Bard then hit David Peralta with a pitch, allowing the winning Diamondbacks’ run to score. 



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