Rockies muster just three hits in loss to Reds

DENVER — The 25,315 onlookers at Coors Field had to wait until after sunset before the Colorado Rockies finally mustered a base hit Tuesday night.

Elias Díaz’s double to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning broke up the no-hit bid from Cincinnati Reds starter Frankie Montas, but did little else as the Rockies fell 4-1.

“He had it working. His stuff was legit,” Rockies manager Bud Black said of Montas, who finished the night with a hit, two walks and nine strikeouts in seven innings of work.

The Rockies finished with just 3 hits. It was their sixth game with 3 or fewer hits so far this season. Only three teams — the Reds, Orioles and White Sox — have more.

The game was also the fourth-straight loss for Colorado after a 6-3 stretch that saw home series wins over the NL-leading Philadelphia Phillies and the AL-pacing Cleveland Guardians, as well as a series-opening win over the Dodgers last Friday night in Los Angeles.

Since then, Colorado‘s offense — which had averaged a healthy 5.7 runs during that afore-mentioned nine-game stretch — has collapsed, mustering just 5 runs in four games, 3 of which came in Monday night’s 13-3 loss to Cincinnati.

“It happens. These four games, we haven’t swung the bats great, and we pitched good enough to hang in there except for last night,” Bud Black said. “It’s a little bit of a mini-bad stretch here.”

Tuesday night, the Rockies didn’t even have a baserunner until third baseman Ryan McMahon drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Rockies starter Ty Blach absorbed the loss, allowing 4 earned runs and 10 hits over 5 innings of work. Matt Carasiti, Tyler Kinley and Nick Mears delivered 4 scoreless innings from the bullpen, but the Rockies didn’t close the gap until the ninth.

That’s when Reds reliever Buck Farmer had some trouble closing out matters. Colorado shortstop Ezequiel Tovar had a near-miss after blasting a 2-2 fastball to the warning track in center field, but Elias Díaz and Brendan Rodgers came up with back-to-back 2-out hits.

Rodgers’ double to the right-field wall brought home Díaz for Colorado’s only run.

The Rockies conclude their quick 3-game homestead with a getaway day game at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday.

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