Rockies Drop Fifth in a Row

The Colorado Rockies lost 9—5 on Sunday to the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park, which brought the Giants into a tie with Colorado in the NL wild card race.
Rockies Drop Fifth in a Row
CATCHING ON FAST: Giants rookie wideout Ramses Barden #13 made several exciting plays during the first week of training camp. (Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
Kristen Meriwether
8/30/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/giants.jpg" alt="GRAND SLAM: Edgar Renteria shows us what it looks like when your dig your team out of a three-run deficit with one swing of the bat. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)" title="GRAND SLAM: Edgar Renteria shows us what it looks like when your dig your team out of a three-run deficit with one swing of the bat. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1804771"/></a>
GRAND SLAM: Edgar Renteria shows us what it looks like when your dig your team out of a three-run deficit with one swing of the bat. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The Colorado Rockies lost 9–5 on Sunday to the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park, which brought the Giants into a tie with Colorado in the NL wild card race.

The loss is the fifth straight for the once-hot Rockies and leaves them six games behind the Dodgers for the NL West pennant.

Colorado jumped out to an early 1–0 lead in the top of the first when Troy Tulowitzki hit an RBI double, scoring Carlos Gonzales.  

Rockies starter Jason Hammel was cruising along until the bottom of the fourth when Nate Schierholtz hit a sacrifice fly to score Eugenio Velez.

But the Rockies brought out the lumber in the top of the fifth, slugging back-to- back home runs by Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki.

After adding another run in the top of the sixth, and with a commanding 4–1 lead, the Rockies seemed to have everything under control. But the Giants had sweep on their mind and would not go away quietly.

The Giants responded in the bottom of the sixth. They opened the inning with two doubles and a walk, scoring a run.  Hammel left the game, replaced by Franklin Morales.  Morales ended the inning without any further damage.

Tulowitzki added his third RBI of the game with a single in the seventh, giving the Rockies a 5–2 lead.

Seventh Inning Disaster


But the bottom of the seventh proved disastrous for the Rockies. With two out, the Rockies brought in reliever Rafael Betancourt with the bases loaded.

With one hefty swing of the bat, Edgar Renteria sent a grand slam into the left field stands. This gave the Giants a 6–5 lead and they never looked back.  

The Giants added three more insurance runs in the eighth, sending the Rockies home with a 9–5 loss.

The Rockies looked like they'd be a contender for the NL West, and then like a sure thing for the NL wild card. After back-to-back walk off wins, including one against the Dodgers, things seemed to be aligning for “Rocktober.”

But with two losses at home to the Dodgers and after being swept by the Giants, they are now hoping just to stay in playoff contention.

While the Giants lost three of four to the Rockies late last week, the three game sweep has brought them even and now, the race to the finish is on.

The Rockies and Giants will face each other for a final three-game series in San Francisco starting September 14. A sweep by either team could put the other out of contention for the wild card.

The Rockies will finish their season in L.A. with a three-game series starting October 2. A few weeks ago, this series was looking like an NL West decider.