Colorado Rockies Make 4 Errors, Get 6 Hits, Lose 14-3

By Bobby DeMuro | May 1, 2015

May 1, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (2) and San Diego Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso (23) get tangled on the base paths on a ball hit by third baseman Will Middlebrooks (11) during the fourth inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies swung into San Diego to take on the Padres Friday night, the first of a three-game set over the weekend.

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The Colorado Rockies made three errors and allowed four runs in the fourth inning and never recovered, getting blown out 14-3 by the San Diego Padres Friday night at Petco Park.

Eddie Butler started for the Rockies, facing Ian Kennedy, who was making just his second start for the Padres, a club that had dropped seven of their last eight games coming into the Friday evening affair.

After the Rockies squandered a lead off walk to begin the game, the Padres got on the board first, when Wil Myers walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Matt Kemp singled him to third, and Justin Upton hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Myers from third.

DJ LeMahieu hit a leadoff double in the third inning but, as in the first after his leadoff walk, the Rockies stranded him in scoring position and failed to do much of anything against Padres’ starter Ian Kennedy the first couple times through their lineup.

In the bottom of the fourth, after hitting Upton with a pitch, Butler threw an errant pick-off attempt to first base, allowing Upton to advance to third on the overthrow. Derek Norris then drove a ground ball through a drawn-in infield to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Padres.

Yonder Alonso then doubled down the left field line, putting Norris at third. The next hitter, Will Middlebrooks, hit a ground ball to Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop, who collided with Alonso while attempting to field the ball. Tulowitzki dropped the ball, and the umpires ruled Alonso didn’t interfere with the play, giving Tulowitzki an error.

Alexi Amarista then hit a routine double play ground ball to LeMahieu, who promptly booted it to allow a run and give the Rockies their third error of the inning.

After Kennedy popped out for the first out of the frame, Myers took Butler to a full count – with the bases still loaded – before fanning on a 96 mph fastball from the Rockies’ rookie.

With two outs, the Rockies couldn’t get out without more damage done, though. Yangervis Solarte singled to center, bringing home two more runners and extended the Padres lead to 5-0.

In the top of the fifth, Drew Stubbs got on the board in a big way – with his first hit of the season – smashing a solo home run off Ian Kennedy to make the game 5-1, but that’s the only run the Rockies could get after five frames.

Butler was done after four innings, with his final line sitting at five runs (three earned) on four hits, two walks, and a hit batter, while striking out three, across his four frames. Butler threw just 82 pitches, and 51 strikes, in four innings of work.

Coming into the game, though, the Rockies were leading the league in bullpen innings (76.1), and had to add to that tonight after Butler’s early departure. Christian Bergman came on in the bottom of the fifth, and ran into trouble after two singles put runners on the corners for Alonso with one out in the inning.

Alonso hit a bloop single to drive in a run, and the Padres extended their lead to 6-1. Two groundouts ended the inning, but the bloop singles brought in a run off Bergman and the Padres were comfortably ahead (with starter Kennedy cruising) after five full innings.

In the top of the sixth, the Rockies struck again. Nolan Arenado hit his fourth home run of the year, a solo shot to left field off Kennedy, to make the game 6-2.

Bergman was done after two relief innings, allowing a run on three hits, and Scott Oberg threw a clean seventh inning to keep the deficit at four runs.

Jorge Rondon threw the ninth inning, and two walks, a base-hit bunt, an error by Arenado, and a single from Solarte gave the Padres four more runs – with nobody out – to extend the Padres lead to 10-2.

Kemp’s bloop-hit double made it six straight hitters to reach in the eighth inning against Rondon, and two more singles gave the Padres three more runs, knocking Rondon out with the score 13-2.

Christian Friedrich came on and a single and sacrifice fly made the game 14-2 in favor of San Diego, but at least the Rockies finally recorded an out in the miserable eighth inning. Friedrich finally stemmed the tide, and the Rockies entered the ninth down 12 runs.

With two outs in the ninth inning, Nick Vincent walked Carlos Gonzalez with two outs and then allowed a double to Nick Hundley, and the Rockies made it a 14-3 game. Stubbs struck out to end the misery, and the Rockies were mercifully retired.

LeMahieu and Arenado each recorded two hits, with Stubbs’ solo home run accounting for the fifth hit of the night, and Hundley’s double the sixth. The Rockies are now 11-11.

The Rockies and Padres return to Petco Park Saturday night at 6:40 pm (MT) to play game two of the three-game series, before finishing the series Sunday afternoon.

The Rox then return home to Denver to face the Arizona Diamondbacks for three games in the middle of next week, before hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers next weekend at Coors Field.

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