The Rockies doubled up on their misery Tuesday night at Coors Field.
A night after they beat the Brewers 2-0 in Milwaukee, they lost 2-1 to the White Sox in their home ballpark for their fourth loss in five games since returning from the all-star break.
Ryan McMahon’s opposite-field, leadoff homer in the ninth off of Liam Hendriks prevented the Rockies from being shut out at home for the second time this season. Colorado had the tying run at first after pinch-hitter Elias Diaz drew a walk, but Hendriks got Charlie Blackmon to ground out softly to second base to end the game.
The Rockies created traffic all night and they had their chances, but they grounded into four inning-ending double plays — in the second, fifth, sixth and seventh. Colorado’s four double plays were its most since grounding into four on May 29, 2019, in a win over Arizona.
Then again, the White Sox grounded into three DPs. The seven combined plays are the most in a nine-inning game this season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“Good pitches from them,” Rockies manager Bud Black said when asked why his hitters pounded the ball into the dirt. “Some fastballs inside that chocked off some swings. We just couldn’t get the barrel on it. Those pitches had some run and velocity.”
All told, the Rockies grounded into 14 outs via groundballs.
Chicago got an excellent performance from right-hander Michael Kopech, while Colorado wasted another good start by right-hander German Marquez.
Marquez, who’s beginning to resemble the all-star pitcher he was last season, deserved a better fate. He scattered seven hits across six innings, fanning six and walking one.
“I threw a lot of two-seamers today and it was working against right-handers,” Marquez said.
Chicago’s only run off of Marquez came in the fourth when shortstop Garrett Hampson committed a costly error. Eloy Jimenez and Yasmani Grandal hit back-to-back, one-out singles, followed by a tailor-made double-play grounder to Hampson by A.J. Pollock, but Hampson mishandled the ball. Leury Garcia followed up with an RBI single.
“German threw the ball well, under control the whole night,” Black said. “He had a good fastball, a good slider. He absorbed some bad breaks and absorbed some things that didn’t go his way, which is what a good pitcher does.”
Over his last three starts, Marquez has a 2.29 ERA, with 14 strikeouts, three walks and just one home run allowed. He’s held opponents to a .216 average.
“When my delivery is good, my pitches are going to be great and my fastball is good, I will have games like that,” he said. “And my tempo is good, too.”
Rookie right-hander Jake Bird relieved Marquez in the seventh and quickly gave up a run. Adam Engel led off with a single, stole second and scored on Yoan Moncada’s double to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.
Kopech induced two inning-ending double plays to quash a pair of potential Rockies rallies.
In the second, Colorado loaded the bases on walks by McMahon and Randal Grichuk and an infield single by Sam Hilliard. But catcher Brian Serven bounced into a 6-4-3 double play.
In the fifth, Blackmon’s hustle double to right and Hampson’s single to left put men on the corners with one out, but Kris Bryant also grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
Blackmon’s double was the 543rd extra-base hit of his career, tying him with Carlos Gonzalez for the third-most in franchise history. Todd Helton has the most, with 998, followed by Larry Walker with 599.
In the sixth, reliever Jimmy Lambert got McMahon to ground into double play No. 3, and then Joe Kelly got Blackmon for the fourth double play — this one a nifty 3-6-3 version — from first baseman Jose Abreu to shortstop Tim Anderson and back to Abreu.
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