Lodolo's sizzling 9-K start light on hits (2) as Reds sweep Rockies

DENVER -- Nick Lodolo was flirting with a blue-moon feat for the Reds on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, a no-hitter, something that's happened only once in the 30-year history over the ballpark.

It took a super-close play to end the bid vs. the Rockies during an 8-1 victory.

Lodolo hadn't allowed a hit with two outs in the sixth inning when Jordan Beck sent a sharp grounder to shortstop. Elly De La Cruz spun and fell backward while stopping the ball. After scrambling to set his feet, De La Cruz rushed a hard throw to first base that pulled first baseman Spencer Steer off the bag slightly.

The umpire's call was safe, but the Reds' lead replay person -- advanced scouting assistant Jake Heilman -- took a closer look.

Manager Terry Francona decided to request a challenge.

“Jake was waffling, and we got down to about three seconds," Francona explained. "I knew he was having trouble. I was like, ‘That’s OK, we’re going to do it.’ I knew if he was thinking that long, it was close."

Replay officials decided that the call stood for Colorado's first hit, ensuring that Hideo Nomo's 1996 no-hitter for the Dodgers remained the only one in the ballpark's history.

“Around the fifth, I was just looking at the score to see how many runs we had and I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t give up a hit,’” Lodolo said. “To be honest, I wasn’t worried about it at all. I just wanted to keep filling it up and getting outs.”

The official scorer also confirmed that Beck was credited a hit.

"That was questionable, right?" Rockies manager Bud Black said. "Scoring, in general -- we've seen it across the board -- a little more liberal. Beck was getting down the line, he really was. It was a bang-bang play. For me, the throw drew him off. So if you want to call that an error, I would have been OK with that."

Francona still thought Beck had a hit.

“When [De La Cruz] came off his feet, yeah," Francona said.

Wiping away any controversy, a second Rockies hit vs. Lodolo came with one out in the seventh inning. Kyle Farmer's squib rolled on the dirt inside the third-base foul line before touching the bag. Third baseman Noelvi Marte had no play.

"I blame that on me because I was actually telling him to let it go," catcher Jose Trevino said. "I thought it was going to roll left, but the spin stayed straight.”

Besides two infield hits, Lodolo struck out nine while giving up one walk and hitting a batter over seven scoreless innings. He retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced and 12 of 14.

“I’ve played a decent amount of games here. I told him that’s probably the best start I’ve seen here," second baseman Gavin Lux said. "There’s a lot of green out there and the ball flies, so to just give up two infield hits, that’s really impressive.”

With 91 pitches, Lodolo had nearly an even distribution of his sinker, changeup, breaking ball and four-seam fastball.

“That was really impressive," Trevino said. "The slider was really important. He was using the changeup a lot, and when he threw his heaters, he was getting to where he wanted to go.”

“When I missed today, it was in the right spot," Lodolo said.

Through six starts, Lodolo is 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. He has four walks and 27 strikeouts over 36 innings, while opponents are batting .197.

Cincinnati completed a three-game sweep of Colorado (4-23) and finished its nine-game road trip with a 6-3 record.

“We played pretty good baseball the whole trip, especially this isn’t an easy 10-day-er to go to Baltimore to Miami to Colorado," Lux said. "It’s a grindy road trip, I think, and to finish out with a sweep, you try to take that momentum into our homestand.”

Now 15-13 and second in the National League Central, things are moving in an optimistic direction.

The Reds’ offense has moved into a tie for third with the D-backs in runs (150) scored in MLB. Much of that credit can go to Marte (who is batting .364 after going 3-for-5 with three RBIs) and Austin Hays (who had two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored). Since returning on April 15 from a left calf injury, Hays is batting .388 with an 1.199 OPS.

Cincinnati’s rotation is ranked fifth in MLB with a 3.39 ERA.

“The guys are really throwing the ball well and they’re keeping us in games, even if we don’t have the lead in them," Trevino said. "We’re starting to pick it up a little bit.”