Fans quietly departed PNC Park after the Pittsburgh Pirates fell 5-0 to the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon missing a chance to earn a sweep. The Pirates totaled just four hits and five base runners in the game.
Jorge De La Rosa [8-6] got the win, extending his lead as the all-time winningest pitcher in Rockies history. In a bizarre scene, however, he was ejected by home plate umpire Jeff Nelson as Rockies manager Walt Weiss was taking him out in the seventh inning. The first two batters of the inning had reached base before he was removed.
“He threw an assortment of pitches, stayed out of the middle of the plate, added and subtracted velocity and spin and that’s what he does,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He challenges your discipline and he didn’t leave us a lot of hittable pitches.”
Charlie Morton [8-6], meanwhile took the loss, his first at home since July 5. Three of the five runs he allowed were earned.
The Rockies first struck in the fourth inning. Both DJ LeMahieu and Carlos Gonzalez recorded singles. Nolan Arenado then came up, having gone 1-for-16 on the team’s six-game road trip. He his 32nd double of the season, scoring LeMahieu. LeMahieu’s single was the first hit allowed by Morton in the contest.
“That was a 2-0 pitch was middle-middle,” said Morton. “The result wasn’t what I wanted, but I threw the ball where I wanted. I got hurt on one pitch today and that was that pitch, the first hit.”
Ben Paulsen then came up and recorded a triple, his fourth of the season, on an 80 mile-per-hour curveball. Paulson earned four RBIs on the road trip.
In the sixth, Paulsen reached base again with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Morton worked a 3-2 count and then intentionally walked Daniel Descalso. Catcher Dustin Garneau reached base on a Morton throwing error and both runners scored on the play.
The loss spoiled a chance for a 14th sweep of the season as well as the opportunity for a 20 win season in a month for the first time since Sept. 1992.
Following a day off, the team’s first in 20 days, the Pirates will embark on a nine-day road trip which starts with a three-game series versus the Milwaukee Brewers. Gerrit Cole [15-7 2.44 ERA] will face Jimmy Nelson [10-10 3.81 ERA] in the contest.
Photo credit: Keith Srakocic/AP
