This loss hurt.
It was a beautiful Saturday for baseball, but oh boy did the Rays struggle to get runs in.
Our pitching matchup for the day saw Antonio Senzatela on the mound for the Rockies, up against Zack Littell for the Rays. Littell had a much better day overall in terms of limiting baserunners, but the box score is almost all that counts, so even though Senzatela had a rougher start, the Rays just weren’t able to take advantage of all their baserunners early on.
Littell got the first three Rockies out in order to start the first. In the bottom of the inning Junior Caminero got a two-out single, then Jonathan Aranda doubled. Caminero pushed for a run, but probably should have stuck to third base, because he was easily tagged out at home.
Another 1-2-3 inning for Littell at the top of the second. The Rays hit well in the bottom of the inning. Christopher Morel and Kameron Misner got back-to-back singles, then both were able to advance a bag on a Taylor Walls groundout. Jonny DeLuca walked to load the bases, but the Rays ended up leaving them stranded.
Nick Martini started the third with a single, followed by a quick out, then Jordan Beck singled to advance Martini to second. Brenton Doyle then singled to score Martini, putting the Rockies on the board first. Two outs followed to end the inning, and the Rays were now down one. Brandon Lowe started the home half of the third with a single, but then got eliminated in a double play off the bat of Junior Caminero. Aranda doubled, followed by a Morel walk. Misner then singled, but Aranda made a hustle for home that just didn’t work out (a little deja vu) and while it looked like he wanted a review on the out call, the call of the field was left as is. The inning ended there.
The game headed into the fourth inning with three up and three down for the Rockies. Bottom of the fourth was much the same for the Rays.
In the fifth, the Rockies were once again 1-2-3 for outs. For the home half the Rays tried again to make something happen. Brandon Lowe got a one-out single, then Caminero singled. This was enough to chase Senzatela out, replaced by Luis Peralta, a leftie. Aranda then stumbled off the mound for his first pitch, which was called a balk, advancing both baserunners. Morel then got another walk. Couldn’t have asked for a better time to have a reliever lose the zone. Unfortunately a flyout ended the inning and once again the Rays left them loaded.
Top of the sixth and with one out, Morel made a truly incredible catch in left to save an extra base hit.
Ryan McMahon then singled. Thankfully nothing came of the runner and the Rays headed into the home half for another shot to get a run on the board. The Rockies weren’t going to leave Peralta in, and turned to Jimmy Herget. Herget, a side-armer pitcher, was certainly interesting to watch. He gave out a one-out walk to Taylor Walls, then a wild pitch advanced Walls to second. Yandy Diaz hit a liner down third and it looked as if he might safely get to first, but ultimately the call of out was allowed to stand.
Littell’s day was done after six innings, his final line for the day was 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K on 78 pitches.
He was replaced by Garrett Cleavinger, who gave up a one-out double to Hunter Goodman. Kyle Farmer then got a two-out single to score Goodman, giving the Rockies a 2-0 lead. They got the final out of the inning to limit the damage, but the Rays had a little further to dig if they wanted to get out of their hole. Scott Alexander, straight out of a time machine from 1994, was next out of the pen for the Rockies. Lowe hit a nice fly ball that just didn’t have enough power to become a home run. Caminero got a perfectly placed base hit to center. A pinch-hitting Curtis Mead grounded into a double-play to end the inning.
Manuel Rodriguez was next out of the pen for the Rays, and got a nice 1-2-3 inning. Angel Chivilli was our next Rockies reliever, and gave up a leadoff single to Morel. Danny Jansen hit a super soft groundout, eliminating any chance of a double play, and advanced Morel to second. Walls singled to score Morel, finally getting the Rays on the board. Walls then stole second, and DeLuca took a walk. Seth Halvorsen came out of the Rockies’ pen to get the final out of the inning.
Onto the ninth, Kevin Kelly came out of the Rays’ pen, and got the Rockies out in order. Now it was up to the Rays to make a comeback, something they had struggled with all game. And unfortunately nothing changed in the bottom of the inning as they went down in order, taking the loss despite doing better all game getting runners on base and in scoring position. A really bummer of a loss.
Final: Rockies 2, Rays 1