Rockies vs. Phillies: Rox offense sleepwalks through another series sweep

The Rundown

After a series loss in Toronto, the Rockies headed down to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Phillies. Game one was a pitchers' duel, as Cal Quantrill and Aaron Nola traded punches, both giving up just one run in their six and 7.1 innings respectively. Michael Toglia’s fourth home run of the season tied the game at one in the fifth inning, but the Rockies were unable to muster up any sort of offense outside of the blast. Elias Diaz had two singles, one of them in the ninth, leading to a wild series of events.

With an injury plagued bench, the Rockies turned to Kyle Freeland to run for Diaz, who tried a mad dash at the plate after a Jeff Hoffman slider bounded away from J.T. Realmuto. To the dismay of Rockies fans, the ball bounced up in the air, and Realmuto shovel-passed it to home plate where a collision and a tag beat Freeland, ending the inning, the threat, and leaving Freeland in pain. The let down continued as Cristian Pache smacked a walk off single into right field, sending the Rox home in heartbreaking fashion.  

Just when you thought the offense couldn’t get any worse, here comes Ranger Suarez. Austin Gomber gave 5.1 respectable innings of three run ball, but it would be far from enough to give the Rockies a chance. Suarez delivered a complete game shutout, striking out eight batters along the way. Despite the scoreless night, the Rockies managed to spread out seven hits across the game, including two from Ryan McMahon. In relief of Gomber, Victor Vodnik had another clean outing but Tyler Kinley’s struggles continued, giving up a two run homer to Bryce Harper, furthering his miserable start to the season. All told, the Rockies were unable to bring home the win on Dinger's birthday, dropping game two by a score of 5-0.

The series finale finally featured some signs of life from the Rockies bats as they tallied 11 hits off of Phillies pitching. Yet again, first inning woes continued as Ryan Feltner gave up a four spot to start the game. The Phillies would tack on two more runs off of Feltner and one more off Peter Lambert, taking a 7-1 lead into the eighth. Finally, the Rockies offense woke up, as Brenton Doyle, McMahon, and Diaz led off with three straight singles in front of an Elehuris Montero sac-fly. A walk-in run, an RBI groundout, and Ezequiel Tovar’s third hit of the night would bring the Rockies to within one after the five-run frame. But, as seems to be the theme all year long, Jose Alvarado slammed the door in the ninth, giving the Rockies another painful one-run loss, as the Phillies walked away 7-6 winners.