Doubleheader, Game 1: Colorado Rockies Blown Out Again

Tyler Matzek walked six while recording just six outs Wednesday afternoon for the Colorado Rockies. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks finally got underway after two consecutive rainouts, playing game one of a doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field.

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Tyler Matzek walked six hitters and allowed three hits in just two-plus innings pitched, and dug a hole that the Colorado Rockies couldn’t overcome, as the team lost 13-7 to the Arizona Diamondbacks in game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader.

Matzek walked the bases loaded in the first inning, and yet didn’t get burned, working his way out of the jam unscathed. He threw 21 pitches in the first inning – and only seven for strikes.

In the second, Matzek walked the first two hitters of the inning (that’s five walks in the first eight batters he’d faced) before inducing a double play on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Diamondbacks starter Josh Collmenter.

The walks finally burned Matzek though, when Ender Inciarte singled home Nick Ahmed from second base with two outs in the second. Mark Trumbo then hit a home run to right-center field, giving the Dbacks a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second.

In the third, after another leadoff walk and stolen base, Yasmany Tomas singled down the right field line to make it a 4-0 lead in favor of the Diamondbacks. Matzek was removed at that point, having allowed six walks and three hits in 2+ innings, throwing just 20 strikes on 58 pitches.

Christian Bergman entered for Matzek and worked out of the third to maintain the four-run deficit, but Collmenter was better, facing just nine hitters through his first three innings on the mound.

In the fourth, a Trumbo double scored Inciarte and extended the lead to 5-0 off Bergman. After an error by Troy Tulowitzki on a very hard hit ball by AJ Pollock, Tomas then ripped a single to left scoring Trumbo and extending the Arizona lead to six runs.

Aaron Hill then ripped a three-run home run to left field, making the game 9-0 in favor of the Dbacks and effectively putting it out of reach early.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Rockies showed some life when Justin Morneau clubbed a solo home run to dead center field off Collmenter, his third homer of the season.

Nolan Arenado then followed up with a double, and Carlos Gonzalez with a single, to put runners on first and third with nobody out for Nick Hundley. Hundley crushed a ball down the left field line that likely would’ve been a three-run home run, but Inciarte robbed him with an amazing catch to make it a sacrifice fly, giving the Rockies one run instead of three.

The Diamondbacks kept scoring, pushing across another run in the sixth on a Tomas single off Rockies reliever Ken Roberts. Hill then singled Tomas to third, putting runners on the corners with one out in the sixth in a 10-2 game for former Rockie Jordan Pacheco.

Pacheco hit a dying line drive to center, which Blackmon laid out for to make an incredible catch, though Tomas scored on the sac fly, making it an 11-2 game.

Nick Hundley hit a solo home run in the seventh, getting his home back after Inciarte’s great play in his previous at-bat. The homer, which made the game 11-3, was the second of the year for Hundley and extended his hitting streak to ten games.

In the eighth, Hill blooped a single to center that drove in Pollock for the 12th Diamondbacks run of the day, this one off reliever Christian Friedrich.

The Rockies finally knocked Collmenter out with nobody out in the eighth inning, when Corey Dickerson hit an RBI triple, followed by a pinch-hit two-run home run from Drew Stubbs. Just goes to show that we know nothing.

Later in the half inning, after Carlos Gonzalez walked, Hundley stayed hot, hitting a double to center field that scored CarGo and made it a 12-6 game.

The Diamondbacks pushed across one more run in the top of the ninth to make it 13-6, as Rockies manager Walt Weiss for some inconceivable reason decided to use John Axford and Boone Logan in mop-up duty with another game to play on the afternoon.

In the bottom of the ninth, Morneau doubled off Oliver Perez to score Michael McKenry and give the Rockies a seven-run game for just the second time all year – and the first since the team’s memorable 10-0 win on Opening Day.

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The Rockies are now 11-14 on the year, having lost six straight games.

As disappointing as this game was, there’s another one right around the corner; weather permitting (of course), game two will begin thirty minutes after the end of this one.

Stay tuned to RoxPile.com for the recap and game notes from the doubleheader later today, assuming Mother Nature cooperates. Or… maybe a downpour is preferable.

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