The Colorado Rockies were shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers at home Sunday afternoon, 6-0.
The loss eliminated the Rockies from the postseason as they were swept by the Brewers in three games. The series sweep was demoralizing as the Rockies’ season comes to close with the club scoring four runs over the course of the four postseason games they played in.
Milwaukee put the pressure on Colorado early by scoring the first run of the game swiftly in the first inning.
German Marquez issued a walk to Christian Yelich for the first base runner of the game. Ryan Braun then put runners on the corners with a single to right field, and Travis Shaw followed by grounding into a fielder’s choice to the right side of the infield, scoring the runner to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.
The top half of the Rockies lineup failed to answer in the bottom half of the first inning as they were retired in order, a narrative that carried over throughout the game and ultimately doomed the Rockies on Sunday.
Colorado had numerous opportunities to get on the scoreboard early in the game, the first coming in the third inning. DJ LeMahieu whacked a two-out double down the left field line to give Nolan Arenado a prime opportunity to tie the game with a two-out base knock. Arenado worked the count to 1-1 before hitting a weak groundball to shortstop to end the inning.
The Brewers extended their lead in the fourth inning when Jesus Aguilar blasted a solo home run to left field, making the score 2-0 for the Brew Crew.
Things started to fall apart for Colorado in the sixth inning at the hands of Scott Oberg. Oberg surrendered a one-out single to Mike Moustakas which was followed by a double hit by Erik Kratz to set the Brewers up with two runners in scoring position.
Oberg then committed a balk on the mound, forcing home another Milwaukee run. Dazed and confused from his error, Oberg proceeded to throw a wild pitch in the next at-bat, allowing another Brewers’ run to score to further Milwaukee’s lead to 4-0.
Colorado had yet another opportunity to get on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the sixth which started with LeMahieu working a leadoff walk. Fromm there, Arenado and Trevor Story both proceeded to strike out on three pitches with Matt Holliday following with a line out to right field.
Colorado showed no signs of life past the sixth inning as it appeared the team simply hit a wall offensively in the series.
Milwaukee put the icing on the cake in the ninth inning where they hit back-to-back home runs off of Rockies closer Wade Davis to extend their lead to 6-0.
The loss ends the season on a bitter note for Colorado as Jhoulys Chacin and Wade Miley delivered shutout starts against Colorado, and made their offense look as bad as it has been all season. Blackmon, Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez, and Ian Desmond were all core players held hitless in Sunday’s ballgame.
The Rockies will have some work to do in the offseason with LeMahieu, Adam Ottavino, Gonzalez, and Gerardo Parra all set to be eligible to hit the free agent market. Colorado’s offense was abysmal in the postseason, and they will need to make significant upgrades if they intend to further their success in 2019, which also happens to be the last season Arenado is under contract.
