Colorado Rockies leave Pittsburgh by salvaging one win against Pirates

Goodbye, Pittsburgh. The Colorado Rockies will be more than happy to board a plane to head back home late Wednesday night. Not just because they’re ending a long stretch of 12 of 14 games away from Coors Field, but because the Pittsburgh Pirates continue to give the Rockies problems, no matter the team or the year.

Colorado’s 5-1 win on Wednesday night at PNC Park snapped a three-game losing streak for the Rockies and helped ease some of the angst the Pirates caused during this three-game series.

How tough has Pittsburgh been on the Rockies in this and recent seasons? Since July 27, 2014, Colorado is just 4-14 against the Pirates. Colorado has not won a season series against Pittsburgh since going 4-2 in 2013.

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In Pittsburgh, the pain has been even worse. The Rockies have lost 11 of their past 14 games in Pittsburgh since August 3, 2013 and are 5-13 at PNC Park since 2012. With Pittsburgh winning the first two games of this week’s series, the Rockies have not won a series at PNC Park since 2011 (a year they went 3-1).

Prior to Pittsburgh, Colorado had not lost a road series in 11 consecutive outings to start the 2017 season. It was the longest streak by the Rockies at any time in franchise history. By the way, the last Major League team to open a season without losing any of its first 11 road series was the 2001 Seattle Mariners (20-0-4). The last National League team to turn the trick was the 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers (7-0-4).

What’s one of the reasons why the Rockies struggled against Pittsburgh this season? The first four batters in the Colorado lineup went 1-for-31 in the three games at PNC Park.

That, however, did not include Ian Desmond, who batted fifth finally hit a home run at another stadium besides Petco Park when he launched a second-inning long ball to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead. It also didn’t include Raimel Tapia, who went 4-for-4 in a start for the slumping Carlos Gonzalez. It was Tapia’s first-ever four-hit game with the Rockies. He also scored three of Colorado’s five runs.

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German Marquez, fighting to keep his spot in the rotation with Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson nearing return, allowed just one run and four hits over five innings.