Rockies Too Steep for Phils

The host Colorado Rockies beat up on Phillies starter Jerome Williams, gaining a split of the 4-game series at Coors Field with a 7-3 victory on Thursday afternoon.

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Williams (3-4) allowed 8 hits and walked 3 batters in his 5 innings of work, allowing 5 earned runs. He was followed to the mound by reliever Elvis Araujo, who walked 3 batters and yielded 3 hits in 2 innings, getting touched for 2 runs of his own.

For Colorado, starter Jorge de la Rosa wasn’t very strong himself. He allowed 5 hits and walked 3 batters over just 4.1 innings, giving up 3 runs. A big difference in this contest was the Rox bullpen. Five pitchers followed the starter, and allowed a cumulative 2 hits and 1 walk over the final 4.2 innings.

As has been a regular feature of these games, the Phillies scored first, jumping on top with a solo run in the top of the 3rd inning. Freddy Galvis singled with one out, went to 3rd when Chase Utley reached on an error, and then scored on a single off the bat of Darin Ruf.

Williams gave that run right back, and more. He hit Rockies leadoff man Charlie Blackmon to leadoff the bottom of the 3rd, gave up a hit to D.J. LeMahieu, and then walked Carlos Gonzalez to load the bases for Colorado’s star shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo did not waste the opportunity, lining a 2-run single to center. CarGo then scored on a hit by Brandon Barnes, and it was 3-1.

The Phils briefly tied it in the top of the 5th thanks to a pair of veterans. Chase Utley led off with a triple, and scored ahead of Ryan Howard‘s 9th homerun of the season. That blast prompted Rockies manager Walt Weiss to bring in reliever Christian Bergman (2-0), who would eventually earn the Win in this game.

The hosts then scored their two off Araujo in the bottom of the 7th to put it out of reach. With the bases loaded and nobody out, both Daniel Descalso and Nolan Arenado delivered rbi singles to stretch the Colorado lead out to the final of 7-3.

The Phillies headed back east following the game to continue this 3-city, 10-game road trip with 3 each in Washington and New York. On Friday night, the Phils send Sean O’Sullivan to the mound to take on Nationals ace Max Scherzer.