Baseball has a way of evening things out in the end, as Nolan Arenado saw firsthand Thursday night. The two-time gold glove winner and reigning National League Player of the Week committed two costly errors and was 1-for-4, including a fly out to end the game, an 8-1 loss for the Rockies in Arizona.
Colorado wasted a solid effort by Chris Rusin, who went six innings and allowed just one earned run – a solo home run to A.J. Pollock to lead off the sixth. Later, with a runner on, Arenado booted a ground ball that could have ended the inning. David Peralta followed with a two-run triple that gave Arizona a 3-1 lead they would not relinquish.
Scott Oberg could not contain the damage when he relieved Rusin to start the seventh. Oberg allowed four runs on three hits, recording just a single out.
Arenado misplayed a routine backhander in the eighth, as well, which scored the Diamondbacks’ eighth and final run.
“I’ll go to bed not happy, but I’ll wake up ready to go tomorrow,” Arenado told MLB.com. “It’s frustrating. He [Rusin] pitched a great game. Whenever our pitchers pitch a great game, I make sure I remind myself, ‘Let’s pick this guy up.’
“I didn’t pick up ‘Russ’ today, so I’m not happy.”
Rusin couldn’t do his part to limit the damage, giving Peralta a fastball to hit.
“I tried to pick Nolan up because he picks us up every day with the plays he makes,” Rusin said. “It’s just frustrating that I couldn’t pick him up in that situation.”
Arenado and the Rockies pitching staff have another chance to pick up one another on Friday. First pitch from Chase Field is 7:40 p.m. MDT. Kyle Kendrick (3-10) faces Chase Anderson (4-2)