Rockies Blow Big Lead, Suffer Worst Loss Of Season

The Colorado Rockies launched three home runs and enjoyed a 6-0 lead at one point in Thursday night’s contest against the San Francisco Giants. They got to Matt Cain early and they had their best pitcher, Jhoulys Chacin, on the mound. If ever there was an opportunity to exorcise some demons and generate some momentum against the Giants, tonight was the night. If they could hold onto that lead and even build on it, that might be the kind of statement win that leads to a dominant home stand.

Chacin. Image: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

But if they blew a lead under those hopeful circumstances, it would be transform into the most disastrous loss of the season. It would have the potential to be the kind of the loss to derail the Rockies, snowball into a losing streak, and ruin their ambitions for a full season as contenders.

As Brandon Crawford‘s three-run double shot the gap between center and right field in the Giants’ 5-run 4th inning, this latter option became a reality. Even though the Rockies had not lost the game yet you felt that the golden opportunity had already slipped away. It eventually turned into an 8-6 loss, and the Rockies now find themselves in desperate need of some wins this weekend. At 21-20 on the season and 0-4 against the Giants, losing this series is not an option.

Look no further than some of the post game quotes to understand how much this loss matters.

Chacin had the following to say (courtesy of the Denver Post):

"It was really tough, not only for me, but especially for the team after we scored six runs in the first three innings…Then they came all the way back to beat us."

Manager Walt Weiss:

"We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to win games…We have to come out tomorrow and have the mind-set we’ll win the game tomorrow."

Summed up by outfielder Carlos Gonzalez:

"That was the worst, up by six. It’s terrible…They just came back. Bad luck."

No no CarGo. Not bad luck. Bad baseball. And if you guys don’t stop playing that way, if you don’t prove that Weiss’s call for urgency is more than words in a press conference, then it’s going to be a bad baseball team…

…Because losses like tonight can’t happen.