Phillies Suffer Rocky Opener in Denver
By Matt Veasey
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Phillies | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Rockies | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | x | 11 |
The Philadelphia Phillies were romped by the host Colorado Rockies in the Thursday night opener of a four game weekend series.
The host Colorado Rockies broke out their big bats and crushed the Phillies by an 11-2 score on Thursday night in the opener of a four game series at Coors Field.
The Rockies beat up on Phillies spot starter Adam Morgan, who was immediately optioned back to AAA Lehigh Valley following the game.
“Lately, it hasn’t been fun,” Morgan said per MLB.com contributors. “I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself. And this break coming up, I feel like will be good. And also going down there and being able to work on things and not feel so much pressure … like I said, it can only go up from here.”
Morgan allowed six earned runs on nine hits over five innings in his first start since being removed from the rotation in mid-June due to ineffectiveness. He walked none, struck out three, and three of the nine hits left the yard.
NL All-Star 3rd baseman Nolan Arenado got the scoring started with an RBI double in the bottom of the 1st inning.
Related Story: Opposition Roadblock: Nolan Arenado
The Phillies then answered right away, tying it up in the top of the 2nd when Ryan Howard blasted a 1-0 offering from Rockies starter Chad Bettis out to right-center field for his 12th home run of the season.
That was it for the competitive portion of this contest. The Rox got a solo homer of their own from Mark Reynolds to lead off their half of the 2nd, and then a three-run blast by rookie shortstop Trevor Story in the bottom of the 3rd inning to open a 5-1 lead.
An RBI single by ‘The Big Piece’ scored Maikel Franco, who had two hits on the night as the Phillies’ 3rd baseman continued to rebound from a lengthy slump. That brought the Phils back within 5-2 at the time.
But in the bottom of the 5th, Story did it again, blasting his 21st home run of the season, a solo shot that made it 6-2. The rookie is one of five candidates nominated in the MLB All-Star Game ‘final vote’ process, which ends today at 4pm.
In the home 8th, the Rockies blew the game wide open, scoring five times against Edubray Ramos and Brett Oberholtzer to make the 11-2 final score.
The two teams will resume the series with Friday and Saturday night games, followed by a Sunday afternoon contest that will itself be followed by a four-day break for the MLB All-Star festivities.