MILWAUKEE, WI. – The Colorado Rockies lost to the Milwaukee Brewers in a 10-inning Game One of the National League Division Series on Thursday by a 3-2 margin that gives the top-seeded Brewers an edge in the abbreviated, five-game series.
The story of the game was the Rockies’ offense – or the lack thereof – through the first eight innings. The Rockies had all of one hit until the ninth inning, when they scored two of Brewers receiver Jeremy Jeffress to send the game to extra frames.
Following the completion of Colorado’s win over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Wild Card game, leadoff man Charlie Blackmon was adamant about how his club needed to start producing more runs. Offense is supposed to be the Rockies’ specialty, but so far in the postseason, the offense has been the Rockies’ weakest link by far – and the concern is very real.
Starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela was up and down in his start, but did enough to keep Colorado within striking distance of Milwaukee. Senzatela was clearly filled with adrenaline in the opening inning as he nearly allowed a run to score, throwing two wild pitches in the opening frame. Ryan Braun gifted the Rockies the third out of the inning by running into an out at the plate when trying to score on the second wild pitch of the inning.
National League MVP candidate Christian Yelich tagged Senzatela in the bottom of the third inning, blasting a monster, two-run home run to left center field to establishing a 2-0 lead for the Brewers that would almost hold up for the entire game.
Outside of the home run, Senzatela delivered a solid start for the Rockies, logging five innings, and allowing two runs on three hits while walking two batters and throwing two wild pitches.
The Rockies’ offense was simply putrid through the first eight innings. The first hit of the ballgame for Colorado did not come until the fifth inning, where Carlos Gonzalez ripped a two-out triple. Ian Desmond followed by grounding out to the pitcher on the first pitch of his at-bat.
The Rockies’ offense seemed on edge throughout the afternoon as there was a clear lack of discipline within a majority of their at-bats. Time after time, it appeared as if the Rockies’ batters were constantly behind in the count, missing pitches to hit, or frustrated with the strike zone of the home plate umpire.
Regardless of what happened, Thursday’s game exploited Colorado’s offense and their recent inability to generate any sort of life on the basepaths. The Brewers did deploy an “opener”, meaning they did not roll out a traditional starting pitcher for the game, but rather relied on a medley of relief pitchers to work through the initial nine innings.
The triple by Gonzalez was the only hit of the game for Colorado through the first eight innings. The Rockies did manage to work two walks in the game; however, both base runners were eventually thrown out trying to swipe second base.
The Rockies found some life in the ninth inning, which began with back-to-back pinch-hit singles from Gerardo Parra and Matt Holliday. Charlie Blackmon then singled home a run to make the score 2-1.
DJ LeMahieu followed by hitting a ground ball to shortstop Orlando Arcia that he misplayed, allowing Colorado to load the bases with no outs. Nolan Arenado then hit a sacrifice fly to center field, plating the tying run to even the game at two runs apiece.
The Rockies still had runners in scoring position with one out but were unable to score the go-ahead run as Blackmon was tagged out in a pickle and Trevor Story struck out swinging on three pitches that were not even remotely close to the strike zone. Colorado was pressing and the Brewers sensed it; Milwaukee was able to keep the game knotted up entering the bottom of the ninth.
Adam Ottavino issued a leadoff walk to Yelich in the bottom of the 10th, who later Yelich advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and eventually scored when Mike Moustakas hit a game-winning single to right field on a 0-2 pitch from Ottavino that was surprisingly in the strike zone at all.
Game 2 of the NLDS will be played in Milwaukee on Friday afternoon.
