DENVER —The Colorado Rockies lived by their bullpen all night. And lived well.
But the feel-good story ended in the 10th inning when the Detroit Tigers ripped right-hander Pierce Johnson for three runs en route to a 4-2 victory at Coors Field before a sellout fireworks crowd of 48,108.
With ghost runner Jonathan Schoop on second to open the 10th, Eric Haase singled off Johnson, advancing Schoop to third. Up stepped Zach McKinstry, who hammered Johnson’s 1-0 fastball 400 feet and into the Rockies’ bullpen for a three-run homer.
The Rockies made some noise in the bottom of the frame against right-hander Alex Lange. Jurickson Profar drew a two-out walk and Kris Bryant delivered a broken-bat, RBI single to left to score ghost runner Coco Montes. But Lange struck out Ryan McMahon to end the game.
Colorado, with its rotation depleted by injuries, used six pitchers in the game.
Right-hander Peter Lambert opened for Colorado. And talk about a spot start. Lambert made his first big-league start since Sept 29, 2021, vs. Washington, a span of 641 days. Before that, he went 736 days between starts, from Sept. 20, 2019, to Sept. 24, 2021, as he battled through an elbow injury and Tommy John surgery.
Lambert made the most of his opportunity, even if it was a short-lived stint as an “opener.” The right-hander pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out two. He threw 45 pitches (27 strikes) and needed just 10 pitches in a one-two-three first inning.
Lambert was pressed in the second inning when Matt Vierling sliced a two-out triple into the right-field corner, but Lambert struck out Miguel Cabrera looking at a nasty slider to finish off the inning.
Colorado put the first run on the board in the sixth. C.J. Cron ripped a double to right-center off Jose Cisnero and scored on Ezequiel Tovar’s single to left. Tovar extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the best of the season by a Rockies player.
But the Rockies’ offense was mostly a dud, producing just six hits.
Detroit tied the game, 1-1, in the seventh against workhorse reliever Jake Bird. Cabrera led off with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Jake Marisnick, who scored on Schoop’s double into the left-field corner.
The Tigers had a prime opportunity to scratch out a run in the sixth but Tovar shut them down with a tough play that he made look easy. Andy Ibanez scorched a one-out triple to right center off of Blach, who then plunked Kerry Carpenter. Matt Koch replaced Blach and induced Baez to ground out to McMahon at third, who forced out Carpenter at second.
With runners at the corners, Vierling hit a dribbler between the mound and short where Tovar scooped up the ball and threw out Vierling to end the inning.
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