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Offense delayed in late defeat as Rockies edge Pirates in 9th inning
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DENVER -- The Pirates rallied late, but the Rockies struck last.
Dexter Fowler hit a sacrifice fly with one out in the ninth inning to score Wilin Rosario as the Rockies beat the Pirates, 5-4, Monday night at Coors Field.
Pirates reliever Jason Grilli was the loser, his third of the season.
Rosario led off the inning with a single to left field and advanced to third when Jason Giambi singled to right-center field with one out.
Pedro Alvarez tied the score in the top of the ninth with a three-run homer on the first pitch after a 53-minute rain delay. Alvarez smacked a 98-mph fastball off left-handed reliever Rex Brothers and parked it in the left-field seats for his 18th home run of the season, tying the score, 4-4.
Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker both singled against Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt before crew chief Gary Cederstrom called out the grounds crew with one out in the ninth.
It was eerily similar to the previous time the Pirates were delayed on the road Sept. 3, 2011, in Chicago. Then, Derrek Lee hit a grand slam to help the Pirates claw back from a late deficit in a 7-5 victory.
Only difference was Lee's blast gave the Pirates the lead. After Alvarez's shot, Rod Barajas singled, but Clint Barmes grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Starter Jeff Karstens pitched seven innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits -- four of which came in an ugly fifth inning. He struck out four and walked two, throwing 67 of his 101 pitches for strikes.
With the loss, the Pirates (49-40) missed an opportunity to gain any ground on the first-place Cincinnati Reds, who lost earlier in the night to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-3.
It marked the first time the Pirates have lost back-to-back games since they dropped the first two games of a series June 25-26 against the Philadelphia Phillies. It also was the third consecutive series-opening loss.
The Rockies (35-54) pounded Karstens for four runs in the fifth to grab a 4-1 lead.
Karstens allowed the first four runners to reach base in the inning, all of whom scored. He walked Tyler Colvin, allowed back-to-back singles to Rosario and Josh Rutledge, the second of which scored Colvin.
Eric Young Jr. belted a double off the base of the right-field wall, clearing the bases and giving the Rockies their first lead of the game. Two batters later, Marco Scutaro singled to left field, scoring Young.
Karstens faced eight batters and threw 24 pitches in the inning.
He gave the Pirates a short-lived lead in the top half of the inning with his third career RBI. With two outs and Alvarez on third, Karstens hit a high-bouncing grounder over Rockies first baseman Michael Cuddyer's head and into shallow right field, scoring Alvarez.
It was Karstens first RBI since July 5, 2011, when he drove in a run in a 5-1 victory against the Houston Astros.
Before Karstens got to the plate, Barmes put Alvarez in scoring position with a two-out single that dropped in front of a diving Carlos Gonzalez in left field, allowing Alvarez to scamper from first to third.
The three-hit inning was the final one of the game for Rockies starter Jeff Francis, who threw 72 pitches. But with two runners on in the bottom half of the inning, Rockies manager Jim Tracy sent Young to the plate to try to get Colorado's offense going.
Francis allowed six hits and one earned run over five innings. Though 30 of his 72 pitches were balls, he did not walk a batter.
After Francis left the game, Colorado right-handed reliever Josh Roenicke pitched three scoreless innings in which he allowed only two Pirates to reach base -- one by single and the other by walk.
The Pirates had a baserunner in three of the first four innings but could never string together more than one hit in an inning.
Alex Presley singled to leadoff the game and moved to second on a passed ball but was stranded there.
Neil Walker singled to leadoff the second, and Andrew McCutchen singled with one out in the fourth. But both were caught stealing to limit the offense early.
Karstens escaped a bit of trouble in the second. He allowed a one-out double to Cuddyer down the left-field line and walked Rosario with two outs to put runners on first and second. But Karstens got Rutledge to fly out to left to end the threat and keep the game scoreless early.
Walker extended his hitting streak to 16 consecutive games, two shy of his career-high 18-game hitting streak in 2010.
First Published July 17, 2012 12:56 am
