The Rockies were on the cusp of the most incredible comeback since Rocky Balboa decked Clubber Lang.
An exaggeration? Of course. But the underdog Rockies only needed to land one more punch in Rocky’s City of Brotherly Love.
But, “Yo, Adrian,” it never came, and the Phillies escaped with a 7-6 win Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park to complete a three-game sweep. The Rockies, who finished 1-5 on their road trip, are 4-15 to begin the season — the worst start in franchise history.
In the ninth, the Rockies had the tying run at second base in pinch runner Nolan Jones, who was running for Elehuris Montero, who hit a two-out single off lefty Jose Alvarado. Jones swiped second base, but Alvarado got Sean Bouchard to pop out to second baseman Bryson Stott to save the game.
Colorado looked down for the count until it scored five runs in an eighth inning when Philly’s bullpen got wild. The rally included three walks and a clutch two-out, two-run single by Ezequiel Tovar off former Rockie Jeff Hoffman.
“That didn’t surprise me,” manager Bud Black told reporters. “This is a great group of competitors. We are falling short right now in the first three weeks of April. But the guys keep fighting.”
Still, the Rockies’ try-hard mentality and late-game heroics weren’t enough to overcome another stuttering start. This season, they have been outscored 29-5 in the first inning. And until their eighth-inning rally, they had scored just two runs over their last 38 innings.
“Tonight was another example of the chase coming back to haunt us,” Black said. “The chase rate is something we talked a lot about in spring training, and we started talking about it last September. It hasn’t come to fruition, as a group, in terms of laying off the low, breaking ball.”
Colorado’s 33% chase rate of balls outside the strike zone is the second-highest in the majors.
The funny thing is, Wednesday night, the Rockies led 1-0 after their first trip to the plate when Tovar singled and came around to score on Elias Diaz’s groundout to short.
Still, Colorado’s rare early lead didn’t hold because the Phillies scored four runs on five hits in the top of the frame off right-hander Ryan Feltner, and then rode an excellent start from left-hander Cristopher Sanchez and power surges by Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to take command.
Sanchez allowed one run and five hits over six innings. He struck out 10 and walked just one. His fastball-changeup-slider combination baffled Colorado hitters.
Schwarber led off the first with a 432-foot homer off Feltner, and Turner immediately followed up with a line-drive homer to left. Alex Bohm’s RBI double and Brandon Marsh’s RBI single gave Philly its 4-1 lead.
Schwarber hit a two-run homer off Peter Lambert in the sixth, and Turner finished the game a triple short of the cycle.
After his rugged first inning, Feltner pitched relatively well, but the box score still shows six runs surrendered on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. Feltner’s ERA climbed to 5.06.
“Ryan threw the ball up in the first, and up to Schwarber on the 3-2 count,” Black said of the first inning. “It looked like (Schwarber) was looking soft there, and he got it with the slider. Then, the first pitch to Turner was up and over (the plate). It was an aggressive, ambush swing.”
Pitching probables
Thursday: Off day
Friday: Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (1-2, 7.98) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (0-3, 4.15), 6:40 p.m.
Saturday: Mariners RHP Luis Castillo (0-4, 5.82) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-3, 13.21), 6:10 p.m.
Sunday: Mariners RHP George Kirby (2-2, 6.64) at Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (0-2, 5.57), 1:10 p.m.
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