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Hughes' Bad Outing Buries Rockies in 9-0 Loss to Diamondbacks
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- Hughes' Bad Outing Buries Rockies in 9-0 Loss to Diamondbacks
(© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
The Colorado Rockies suffered a tough 9-0 shutout loss at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday at Chase Field in Phoenix.
It was not an ideal way for Colorado to open its series against Arizona, and there were a couple of factors that contributed to its lopsided loss.
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Ugly early innings
Before the Rockies embarked on their nine-game road trip that began against the St. Louis Cardinals, I wrote about the dismal nature of their starting rotation and how, even though the odds were not in their favor on the mound, at least one of their pitchers would have to step up and put together a decent performance.
Against the Cardinals, Ryan Feltner , Kyle Freeland and Michael Lorenzen each took the mound, and none of them put together good performances. Those woes extended to Monday's game against the Diamondbacks, when rookie right-hander Gabriel Hughes took the mound.
It's not as if Hughes came into his sixth start with fantastic numbers, and his outing proved to be more of the same for Colorado's pitchers. Even though Hughes and the Rockies' defense got two outs to start the bottom of the first, Arizona's hitters still found a way to jump on him.
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The problems began when Hughes gave up an RBI triple to Gabriel Moreno . Then, he hit Ketel Marte with a pitch before walking Lars Nootbaar .
With the bases loaded, that gave Nolan Arenado a golden opportunity, and he maximized it by taking Hughes deep for a grand slam. Hughes finally ended the disaster by striking out Max Kepler.
What could have been an easy frame to get out of for Hughes turned into a meltdown on his part, and that was only the beginning.
In the bottom of the second, Hughes gave up a one-out single to Ryan Waldschmidt and a subsequent walk to Geraldo Perdomo . Then, he allowed an RBI double to Corbin Carroll before throwing a wild pitch that scored another run for the Diamondbacks to make it a 6-0 game.
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Hughes' nightmare outing continued when he walked Moreno before giving up an RBI single to Marte that capped off Arizona's three-run inning. Yet manager Warren Schaeffer kept him on the mound, and Hughes struck out Nootbaar before forcing Arenado into a popout to end the inning.
Hughes got through the bottom of the third and fourth innings, and Schaeffer ended his evening in the bottom of the fifth. At the end of his night, Hughes allowed five hits, seven earned runs and three walks while striking out three batters over four innings, and he is now 0-4 with a 5.61 ERA this season.
Nonexistent bats
Another point I have hammered home recently is that the Rockies' offense has to carry the burden of getting the team to wins because of how bad the pitching is. Unfortunately for Colorado, it was nowhere to be found on Monday.
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The Rockies went 5-for-28 at the plate on Monday and had runners in scoring position only twice. Moreover, they struck out six times.
Even though it has been another awful season for this team, there have been flashes of potential. However, Monday's loss is a reminder of why the Rockies have the second-worst record in baseball, and all of their most glaring flaws were on display.
