Pittsburgh Pirates silenced in shutout loss to Colorado Rockies

The Pittsburgh Pirates were unable to figure out Jorge De La Rosa and in a 5-0 to the Rockies on Sunday. De La Rosa scattered four hits over six innings and did not allow the Pirates to mount any kind of threat. Charlie Morton pitched well in the first third of the game but saw things fall apart in the fourth inning. The loss puts the Pirates at 79-50 entering their off day on Monday.

Morton was efficient up until the fourth inning. Of the nine outs recorded up until that point, he was able to get the Colorado hitters to hit into ground outs for five of them. But the fourth inning saw the Rockies string together four hits in a row and they proved to be costly. With DJ LeMahieu and Carlos Gonzalez on first and second, Nolan Arenado stung a double to right field to bring in LeMahieu. Ben Paulsen followed that up with a triple that plated both Gonzalez and Arenado.

The Rockies tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning when Dustin Garneau hit the ball back to Morton, who proceeded to toss it well over the head of Michael Morse, allowing Paulsen and Daniel Descalso to score. Once De La Rosa was removed from the game, either by his manager or the home plate umpire depending on who you ask, the Pirates were not able to get anything going against the Colorado bullpen.

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Other than a lucky break in the eighth that saw Gonzalez drop a routine fly ball and allowed Starling Marte to get to second, the Pirates quietly dropped the final game of the three-game series. Of the team’s four hits, two belonged to Jordy Mercer and the other two were from Andrew McCutchen and Aramis Ramirez. The double by Ramirez represented the only extra base hit for the Pirates on Sunday.

What Stood Out

The Pirates may have dropped the last game of the series against Colorado, but they just finished playing 20 games in 20 days and had won four in a row before the loss. In those 20 games, the Pirates went 14-6, so it was a very successful run with no days off to rest. Another run of winning games like this against the upcoming NL Central division opponents could pull them even closer to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Morton again pitched well for the first few innings and saw the wheels come off in the fourth with a string of hard hit balls that got the Colorado offense going. Then an error on the routine flip to first base that brought in two additional runs put the game away since the Pirates were not able to get the bats going against De La Rosa. Morton will draw the Cardinals in St. Louis his next time out if he stays in the same rotation spot, so he’ll need to be even more careful with his pitches in that start.

What’s Next

After the off day on Monday, the Pirates will begin a three-game series in Milwaukee on Tuesday at 8:10 PM. Clint Hurdle decided to juggle the rotation and start Gerrit Cole in the opening game instead of Jeff Locke. Cole will be going for his 16th win of the season after defeating the Miami Marlins last time out. He will face Jimmy Nelson, who has been one of thefew bright spots on an otherwise dismal Milwaukee club, but he was erratic his last time out against Cleveland, issuing eight walks in just 1 1/3 innings of work.

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