Early signs of hope - such as a 25-pitch first inning by our hitters - soon evaporated, as we gifted the Rockies the go-ahead run in the second, on a botched run-down. They added two more in the third, and a solo home-run in the sixth made it 4-0 to Colorado. After seven innings, that was still the score, Cody Ross and Kirk Gibson had been ejected by a trigger-happy home-plate umpire, and between TOOTBLANs and double-plays, the Diamondbacks had sent one batter over the minimum to the plate. This one looked dead in the water.
However, the visiting team did show spirit at the end. Eric Chavez hammered his first home-run as a Diamondback, to cut the lead in half in the eighth, and we managed to get the tying run in scoring position with one out in the ninth, and the bases loaded. However, our catchers failed to come through: Miguel Montero got an RBI groundout, but with just 90 feet separating us from a tie, Wil Nieves swung at the first pitch he saw, and flew out to right-field. Trevor Cahill took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) in seven innings.
Tomorrow, the Diamondbacks will try, as they did in New York, to avert the sweep. Brandon McCarthy goes for Arizona, with a 1:10pm first pitch (AZ time).
Full recap will be up shortly.