Colorado Rockies: Three Takeaways From Wednesday’s Loss

Looking to continue their success on the road, the Colorado Rockies faced off against the St. Louis Cardinals in game two of a three-game set on Wednesday night. Although the “good guys” lost the game 2-0, here are three key takeaways from the matchup in St. Louis.

1.  Gold Glove Night for Nolan

Nolan Arenado had himself a night on the defensive side of the ball. Chris Rusin, who has given up 11 earned runs in his last 10 innings pitched, loaded the bases in the bottom of the first with only one out. Staring another bad outing in the face, Rusin badly needed a break to go his way … and he got it in the form of a Gold Glove play by Nolan.

Yadier Molina turned on a Rusin offering and, on what would normally be a single in the gap between third base and shortstop, Nolan ranged to his left, dove, and delivered a ball to second base that DJ LeMahieu was able to easily turn into a double play. The play clearly played a role in Rusin’s confidence as he was able to turn in his first quality start in two weeks. This is just another example how Nolan impacts the game.

2.  Charlie Owns Adam Wainwright

Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon sees the ball off of Adam Wainwright better than most. In the top of the first inning, Charlie took some excellent pitches and then drove a ball deep to center for a leadoff triple. Unfortunately, the Rockies couldn’t capitalize because of a base running mistake by Charlie, but the fact remains that Chuck Nasty owns Wainwright.

Coming into Wednesday’s action, Charlie had four hits in seven at-bats against Wainwright. Counting the triple and another hit later in the game, Blackmon now has six hits in 10 at-bats against one of the Cardinals’ all-time great pitchers.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

3.  Wainwright Owns the Rockies

With the exception of Blackmon, Wainwright has the Colorado Rockies number. Coming into the game with an atrocious ERA above 6.00 this season, Wainwright was able to find his form against Colorado.

Despite flirting with disaster all night, the Rockies were never able to crack the Wainwright code get that “big hit” against the Cardinals righty. Wainwright is now 8-1 against Colorado all-time and has an ERA barely above 1.00 against the Rox in his career.

Next: Pitching Mantra Working for Rox

The Rockies struggles against Cardinals’ pitching wasn’t because of a lack of opportunities. They just couldn’t get it done in clutch moments. In all, the Rockies went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. So, it wasn’t like Wainwright and Co. were overpowering, the Rockies just didn’t show up in the big moments on the offensive side of the game.

The Rockies two best hitters, Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan, combined to go 1-for-8 in the game. It’s going to be really hard for the club to win any games doing that.