For a second straight night, the Colorado Rockies left a lot to be desired on the offensive end, striking out 16 total times in Boston. And for a second straight game the Rox and Red Sox battled into extra innings.
But the second game of the two-game set went the way of the hometown Red Sox this time around, even after the Rockies came back from five runs down to tie the game and push it into the 10th. Boston eventually won 6-5 as Colorado continued to struggle mightily from the plate.
The Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, as German Marquez started more slowly than would have been ideal. J.D. Martinez singled in Andrew Benintendi and later in the inning Mitch Moreland hit into a double play but Mookie Betts was able to cross the plate. Overall, Marquez didn’t enjoy the best of outings, giving up five earned runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts.
Boston put three more runs on the board with the same characters in the third inning. First, Benintendi scored and then Martinez smashed a two-run home run for the 5-0 lead.
Even though Eduardo Martinez of Boston pitched well, the Rockies wouldn’t quit, just like they didn’t on Tuesday night. They put two runs on the board in the fourth inning, manufacturing runs with a sacrifice fly and a grounder-turned-double by Tony Wolters to score Ian Desmond.
Fast forward to the seventh inning and the game was tied up at 5-5 thanks to timely hitting by Trevor Story, who scored two on a single, and Daniel Murphy’s groundout turned into a Charlie Blackmon run.
Alas, Xander Bogaerts hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th and was sent past home plate by Michael Chavis two batters later for the win.
Let’s take a look at the takeaways:
Rockies resiliency continues
After falling behind 3-0 on Tuesday night, Colorado came back to steal the lead 4-3 and eventually win 5-4 in the 11th inning. On Wednesday, the Rockies again started ice cold from the plate — with six strikeouts in their first nine at-bats — but kept fighting to claw back into the game and tie it up in the seventh. Their luck ran out in the 10th inning when Arenado doubled as the leadoff man but his teammates couldn’t find a way to score him.
Colorado’s bats continue to struggle
All told, the Rockies struck out 16 times, which tied the MLB record of 40 strikeouts in back-to-back games. Their 24 in Tuesday’s game was the most in franchise history and on Wednesday night, every starter save Ryan McMahon struck out. It goes beyond Ks, though; Colorado left 16 runners on base, and went 2-10 with runners in scoring position. The worst was in the 10th inning, when Nolan Arenado hit a leadoff double but his teammates couldn’t hit him home.
Last year, the historically potent offense of the Rockies was sixth-best in Major League Baseball with a .256 team batting average. About one-quarter through this current season, Colorado is 14th in the majors at a .248 batting average.
Trevor Story injured in the 9th
As a deep fly ball flew toward the Green Monster, but short and Nolan Arenado, Story and Ramiel Tapia all chased the baseball which led to a collision of Tapia and Story. The star shortstop seemed to call the other two players off, but Tapia came in like a wrecking ball and hit knees with Story.
After taking his time getting up and running a bit, Story was pulled from the game. Luckily, the ball — which wasn’t caught — bounced out of play and was a ground-rule double or the game would have ended. Benintendi rounded third and would have scored but was called back to third base.
The Red Sox did eventually win, though, leaving Colorado wondering “What if?”
After splitting the short series in Boston, the Rockies (20-22) have a day off Thursday before playing a three-game weekend series in Philadelphia (24-18).
