Saturday, August 18, 2012

Rock Solid Recrap: Can't Win'em All... Don't We Know It

Marlins 6, Rockies 5 (boxscore)

All good things (winning streaks included) must come to an end eventually. That end came for the Rockies on Friday night, which means they'll fall short of equaling their season best five-game winning streak from May.

What Went Wrong: The Rockies made a couple errors tonight that didn't cost them, but overall played a decent game again. They just couldn't get off the deck again in the final innings after the Marlins rallied twice in the middle innings to retake the lead.

Turning Point(s): Basically, it came down to three big swings of the bat for Miami.
  1. The Jose Reyes three-run homer off Jeff Francis in the 5th.
  2. Giancarlo Stanton's titanic game-tying homer off Josh Roenicke in the 6th.
  3. John Buck's go-ahead RBI double later in the 6th. 
All three of those big hits came on the heels of the Rockies scoring a crooked number the inning before. 

Jeff Francis' Line: 5 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 71 pitches (42 strikes)

Francis did well to pitch around the 2nd inning errors and really settled in well with 1-2-3 3rd and 4th innings. He just couldn't navigate through the 5th before allowing the game-changing homer to Reyes. I'm sure that has nothing to do though with Francis being conditioned to throw 75-85 pitches now and as a result beginning to tire around 60-65 pitches instead of 95-100 pitches.

But I could be offbase there.

Josh Roenicke's Line: 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 HR

That line resulted in Roenicke's first loss of the season (4-1). His ERA still sits at a very respectable 2.97.

Rest of the Bullpen: 3 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 6 K

Especially encouraging outing for Rex Brothers, who retired all five batters he faced (three strikeouts). There's not a pitcher on the roster that needed a good outing more than Brothers. And even with this solid outing, there's still no pitcher on the team that needs another good one so he can finally build some consistency and confidence.

Highlight of the Night:  There are four RBI singles and an RBI groundout to choose from tonight from the Rockies so.... I regretfully have to go with Giancarlo Stanton's 900 foot home run.

Sorry folks, it was pretty awesome.



What's Next: Maybe the Rockies can start a new winning streak on Saturday at 7:10.

Pitching Matchup: Tyler Chatwood (3-2, 4.28) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (3-8, 4.28)

More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton

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