The Colorado Rockies fell to the Atlanta Braves Tuesday night by a final score of 4-3, with a rare Nolan Arenado error the difference in the game.
Arenado’s error in the eighth inning, only his fifth of the year, yielded the winning run.
With two outs and a runner on second base, Braves catcher Tyler Flowers hit a ground ball to Areando at third base. In what is usually a routine play for Arenado, a four-time Gold Glove award winner, came up short on his throw to first, forcing first baseman Mark Reynolds to dig a mid-range hop. The ball ultimately ended up getting by Reynolds, leading to Flowers scoring the eventual winning run.
Areando has built a reputation as one of the best two-way players in the game today. The untimely error was made more disappointing by the fact that Arenado homered in the first inning to give Colorado an early 1-0 lead. In fact, all three of Colorado’s runs came on solo home runs. Reynolds and Trevor Story each homered in consecutive innings, but the defense could not contain the slight lead Story’s shot gave them in the fifth inning.
The Rockies welcomed starting pitcher Kyle Freeland back to the rotation as he made his first start since injuring his groin on Aug. 4 versus the Phillies. Freeland went 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on four hits and a pair of walks. Freeland was up and down ealry on, Rbut settled into a bit of a groove as the game progressed. A two-run double to Dansby Swanson and a solo home run to Nick Markakis were the only markers against Freeland.
The Rockies and Braves resume their four-game series on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. Jon Gray faces Mike Foltynewicz.