Herget's success providing stability in Rockies' bullpen

DENVER -- Given their historic season to-date -- memorable for all the wrong reasons -- the Rockies took a pinch of satisfaction at keeping the series with the Yankees in play until the final out Sunday afternoon at Coors Field. They took a victory in Friday’s opener before slipping back to a loss Saturday and falling, 5-4, on Sunday with the tying run on base.

Four of the Yankees’ five runs in the finale came in Antonio Senzatela’s 4 1/3 innings on the hill. Senzatela gave up six hits and walked one while striking out four on 75 pitches before giving way to reliever Jake Bird in a torrential downpour.

The decisive run came from Tyler Kinley in the eighth, a two-out run-scoring single off the bat of J.C. Escarra, his third hit and second RBI of the game.

The Rockies took the lead in the first frame, with Jordan Beck and Ezequiel Tovar sparking a rally before the Yankees tied it in the second and went ahead in the fifth.

After a rain delay of one hour and 46 minutes, Jimmy Herget gave the Rockies stability from the ‘pen, retiring seven straight Yankees. He struck out three, including Aaron Judge swinging at an 80.6 mph full-count curveball.

“There was humidity in the air, and it felt like a little extra tack on the ball,” Herget said. “The ball moved a little more. I had some good stuff today, so I was just trying to attack as much as I could.

“Striking anybody out is always fun,” Herget said of Judge’s whiff.

The ability to find fun in the game was a significant step for a team that hasn’t won a series this season and is setting Modern Era records for futility.

“Jimmy was really good today,” Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It was huge for us. It makes a difference for tomorrow and the next day, but he gave us a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask for from a pitcher.”

Due to Bird’s unavailability after the rain delay, Herget knew he would be on the bump when play resumed, inheriting the full count Bird had established with Escarra, with two outs and runners on second and third.

“I'm just giving my best pitch,” Herget said of the situation. “I had an open base, so just trying to attack and treat it like normal, like it was my count.”

It was Herget’s second consecutive scoreless outing -- after blanking the Phillies for 2 2/3 innings Tuesday. Herget has not yielded a run in four of his last six appearances, all but one of which were four outs or more. Take away his May 9 performance in a 13-9 loss to the Padres when he allowed four runs in 1 1/3 innings, and he’s established a 2.00 ERA in the other five games.

“I had some bad luck here and there, but it's just part of the season, just part of baseball in general.” Herget said. “Just keep moving forward and keep getting people out.”

The Rockies staged a ninth-inning rally to pull within a run. Mickey Moniak led off with a solo homer into the right-field seats off Yankees closer Luke Weaver.

“He’s got a good fastball,” Moniak said. “He's having a hell of a year. I got a chance to face him last year in Anaheim, so I kind of knew what his stuff does. He's got ride on his fastball. I knew he liked the heater. I was leading off the inning, trying to get a good pitch to hit and ideally stay on the fastball. I was able to do that and put a good swing on it.”

Adael Amador slapped a one-out single to left, putting the tying run on base, and Beck followed with his second hit of the night, but Tovar and Goodman couldn’t bring them home.

“In the situation that we’re in, you try to find wins where you can get them,” Moniak said. “We're trying to get better each and every day. Obviously, nobody's happy with where we're at as a team. But this is a young group of guys, there's a lot of learning, a lot of growing to be done, and we’re playing a team that was in the World Series last year, one of the best teams in the AL, if not the whole league. We put up a fight and had it come down to the last pitch. It’s definitely meaningful.”