Eddie Butler Stumbles Early, Colorado Rockies’ Bats Never Show

May 20, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies first baseman Wilin Rosario (20) makes an error in the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies met again in Denver Wednesday night for the third game in their four-game series at Coors Field.

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Eddie Butler allowed two runs in the first, two more in the third, and as quickly as he was done by the middle of the third inning, so were the Colorado Rockies in a listless 4-2 defeat Wednesday night in Denver. The Rockies are now 14-22 on the season.

The game got tricky for Eddie Butler very quickly, when he ran into trouble in the first inning after getting the first two outs of the game. Three singles and an error (made by Butler himself) brought home two runs and made him throw a whopping 43 pitches before the Rockies had a chance to bat.

Not surprisingly, that inning would affect Butler’s entire night, and he was not long for the game.

In the top of the third inning, Ryan Howard’s solo home run made it 3-0 in favor of the Phillies, and then a Jeff Francoeur double followed by a single from Odubel Herrera made it 4-0 Philadelphia after three full innings.

Butler was done at that point, making way for Yohan Flande. Butler threw just 77 pitches – and only 46 for strikes – while allowing four runs on six hits and two walks.

Flande, to his credit, tossed two scoreless innings in middle relief after Butler’s departure. And after Flande, Ken Roberts threw two more scoreless innings to keep the Rockies in the game heading to the final third of the evening.

Behind Flande, the Rockies finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, when Charlie Blackmon scored on a single from Carlos Gonzalez to cut the Phillies’ lead to three runs.

The Rockies crawled back with another run in the bottom of the seventh. After Wilin Rosario doubled and advanced to third on a lineout by Brandon Barnes, Nick Hundley drove him in with an RBI groundout to make the game 4-2.

That was as close as the Rockies would get, losing 4-2 as Jonathan Papelbon slammed the door in the ninth for the Phillies.

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The Rockies and Phillies face off in a day game tomorrow afternoon before the Rox host the San Francisco Giants for four games – including a Saturday doubleheader thanks to an April rainout – in three days over the weekend.

Then, the Rockies will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Reds at the beginning of next week, before heading on to Philadelphia.