Rockies blasted by Pirates, 14-3 at Coors Field, lose sixth straight

The Rockies’ Horror Picture Show? A Nightmare on Blake Street? The Silence of the Bats? Dr. Strange Glove?

Take your pick. In what’s already been a scary-bad season, the Rockies played horrific baseball Monday night in a 14-3 loss to the Pirates in front of 20,322 fans at Coors Field.

It was Colorado’s sixth consecutive loss, a streak in which they have been outscored 45-18. The Rockies’ minus-38 is the worst in the National League.

The shining light for Colorado (5-12) was right fielder Kris Bryant, who hit his first home run at Coors Field in a Rockies uniform and came up a triple shy of hitting for the cycle for the first time in his career, the sixth time he came up a triple short. Bryant crushed a 434-foot solo blast to left with two outs in the third inning off lefty Rich Hill. Bryant had not hit a homer in LoDo since May 9, 2017, when he played for the Cubs, a span of  2,168 days.

“It was good to get it out of the way, but mostly I felt really good about all of my at-bats,” Bryant said, stressing that he did not feel much pressure about hitting a long ball in LoDo.

To save bullpen arms, the Rockies sent infielder Alan Trejo into pitch in the ninth. He served up a two-out, 461-foot homer to Jack Suwinski that landed in the second deck above right field. Suwinski’s homer came on a 54 mph breaking ball.

The bad omens began early for the Rockies with Colorado nemesis Andrew McCutcheon tagging left-hander Kyle Freeland with a solo homer to left with two outs in the first. McCutcheon’s homer was his eighth at Coors Field, where he’s a .310 career hitter. The second three-homer game of McCutheon’s career came at Coors on April 26, 2016.

The bad vibes continued in the second when Freeland walked former Rockie Connor Joe to open the inning — leadoff walks will come back to haunt you — and then third baseman Elehuris Montero whiffed on a potential double-play grounder to load the bases. That error opened the floodgates.

“We’ve got to play defense,” manager Bud Black said. “This year, so far in 17 games, our defense hasn’t been as crisp as we anticipated. We are talking about it, we are addressing that.”

Before the inning was out, Pittsburgh sent 10 men to the plate and scored six runs. Freeland, who entered the game 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA, got the hook with two outs in the third, having given up nine runs (seven earned) on eight hits. His ERA climbed to 3.80.

“I wasn’t as sharp as I have been over the first three starts of the season,” said Freeland, whose nine runs allowed tied his career-high and were a career-high at Coors Field. “I wasn’t hitting spots and I wasn’t putting guys away in advantage counts. That led to hard contact that found holes.”

Montero also made a throwing error in the Pirates’ four-run third for his third error of the young season, though he could have been charged with a few more errors. The Rockies have committed 14 errors, the most in the majors. The Yankees have committed two.

In regard to young players such as Montero and rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, Black said they are going through growing pains.

“We have talked about young players, giving them opportunities,” Black said. “And every player wants those opportunities to play. ‘Give me a chance.’ Here is a chance for a couple of young players to establish themselves as everyday major league players. And every day is a test. Tests aren’t answered in one day or weeks or months. But they all add up when you take a test every day.”

Pittsburgh also hit lefty reliever Ty Blach hard: four runs (one earned) on four hits over two innings.

Hill, 43, entered the game 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA, but he baffled the Rockies for six innings, giving up one run on six hits, walking two and striking out seven, including Montero twice.

The Pirates’ 14 runs were their most in a game since scoring 14 on Aug. 14, 2021, vs. Milwaukee, and their most in a road game since scoring 14 runs at Houston on June 26, 2019. With a 10-7 record, the Pirates are three games above .500 for the first time since May 23, 2019, when they were 25-22.

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