
June 17: 12-13 at Texas Rangers
Fathers Day 2017 gave us an unforgettable Colorado classic. This year’s Father Day game was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
Jon Gray was in fantastic form through five innings, getting nine strikeouts while allowing one run and three hits. But he imploded in the sixth — his final inning before getting sent to Triple-A Albuquerque for pitching rehab. Some sloppy defense didn’t help (the Rockies committed two errors), but Gray was rattled, giving up two RBI singles and a three-run jack to Jurickson Profar.
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The Rockies rallied for five runs of their own in the top of the seventh, and it looked like the offense would bail out the pitching (what a time to be alive). But the bullpen’s woes became downright comical. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jake McGee hit Robison Chirinos on an 0-2 count, walked Ronald Guzman and advanced the runners on a wild pitch. Shaw allowed two runs but at least got a groundout, before Chris Rusin finally helped the Rockies escape the inning clinging to a 10-9 lead.
Trevor Story hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth, challenging the bullpen to blow it again. And Wade Davis obliged. He loaded the bases on two walks and a single, getting just one out. Then Davis walked in two runs, including a five-pitch walk to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, before Jose Trevino’s two-run bloop single walked it off for the Rangers.
Every team has close losses, of course. Some are of the “tip-your-hat-to-the-other-team” variety. Some, not so much. But every so often it seems like your team is actively trying to do everything it can to lose a ballgame in the most painful and tortuous way possible. This was one of those games.