DENVER -- For three big sixth-inning swings on Sunday afternoon, the Rockies made another ridiculous comeback seem possible.
Mickey Moniak, Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck gave Colorado its first home run trifecta of the season -- and the club's first since Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and Ian Desmond accomplished the feat on June 19, 2018. But the Rockies ultimately, and finally, fell to the Pirates, 9-5, at Coors Field.
Colorado overcame deficits of nine runs -- before they had a turn to bat -- on Friday night and four runs on Saturday afternoon. As a result, the Pirates’ 8-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth on Sunday seemed like nothing. Moniak’s two-run homer and solo shots by Goodman and Beck chased Pirates starter Mitch Keller and spiced up what had been a drab contest for Colorado.
“We never really thought we were out of the game at any point,” Beck said. “We were putting together some decent ABs, but just weren’t really stringing them together. I felt throughout the game, it felt like something was going to happen.
“Then, obviously, it was a good moment for us. But we fell short today.”
Ultimately, the Rockies (30-81) could not earn their first home sweep of the season.
The result, however, gave interim manager Warren Schaeffer some teaching points.
It began with starting pitcher Bradley Blalock giving up homers to Tommy Pham and Spencer Horwitz in the first two innings and ultimately allowing seven runs in 5 2/3 innings. There were several other miscues.
“You’re not going to win all those games where you have to come back from early deficits, but it’s the character of the club where you see the attempt and the no-give-in to come back,” Schaeffer said. “There were just too many mental errors on our part that led to us not being able to come back.
“Those are things that we need to clean up from today. ... Yanquiel Fernández coming off the bag at second base [negating] a double [in the first inning]. ‘Tovie’ [Ezequiel Tovar] calling timeout twice [during an eighth-inning at-bat, which meant he was ruled out]. It’s just unforced errors. When you have a bunch of them in one game, they add up.”
Beck didn’t feel mistaken in the seventh, when he disagreed with home-plate umpire Alfonso Márquez’s third-strike call and earned an immediate ejection.
“I disagreed with the call, and then I told him that I disagreed with it, and he threw me out,” Beck said. “I’m sure there was magic language involved. But honestly, I wouldn’t say that I got my money’s worth.”
Protests aside, at 8-7 since the All-Star break, the Rockies’ offensive improvement is starting to show. The series with the Pirates shows that the team has developed the ability to score in bunches. The Rockies lead the Majors in slugging since the All-Star break at .508. Goodman leads the team with 21 home runs. Moniak has 17 and Beck 14.
“We’ve been slugging better than we ever have,” Beck said. “That’s big in this game. You’ve got to slug. It’s hard to string base hits together. There’s got to be a big hit in there, too. So I’m happy with where it’s going.”