Rockies dampen Greinke's debut in defeat

August 7th, 2019

HOUSTON -- Heading into their opener at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, much of the conversation focused on two main talking points: The Rockies were facing a familiar foe who is now wearing a different uniform, and a couple of well-known Colorado hitters had pretty good career numbers against him.

By the end of the sixth inning of the Rockies' 11-6 loss to the Astros, however, one hitter had successfully, and dramatically, shifted the attention away from Trevor Story and Daniel Murphy's past success against new Houston pitcher Zack Greinke. , carrying a .167 (3-for-18) career average against Greinke into the game, lifted a three-run homer to tie it up at 5 in the sixth inning, giving the Rockies a fresh start in a contest dominated by the Astros' relentless, aggressive offense.

"We were all very excited, obviously," Tapia said through a team interpreter. "That tied the game, and at that moment, we were all very excited, like this game was ours, and we got it. Obviously, that didn't happen. But we had a good momentum."

Tapia was not only a somewhat unlikely candidate to rake against Greinke, who brought a 2.90 ERA into his start, but the Rockies outfielder hit a pitch few have had any luck with all season.

Tapia's homer was hit off a 65.9-mph curveball, marking only the second time this season any hitter has logged a hit on one of Greinke's sub-70 mph pitches. Opponents were previously 1-for-60, with the lone hit being a ground-ball single by Nolan Arenado in a previous matchup this season with the Rockies.

"That's what Zack's been doing," Colorado manager Bud Black said. "He's doing more of that the last couple years, especially this year. We saw it when he was in Arizona. We finally got one. We've been swinging at it with not a lot of success."

Tapia’s homer traveled a projected 365 feet, according to Statcast, clearing the right-field wall by a row or two. He said he wasn't necessarily looking for that exact pitch, but having faced Greinke a handful of at-bats in the past, he was aware that the slow curveball could be coming.

"I was just looking for anything, but I had seen that pitch before, and I knew it was probably something he'd throw again," Tapia said.

The Rockies didn't win the game, but they dampened Greinke's Astros debut. Playing in front of 43,243 fans -- the largest crowd at Minute Maid Park this year -- they tagged Greinke for five runs and struck out only twice.

Colorado chipped away at an early deficit, starting in the fourth inning. Story reached on an infield hit, and Murphy followed with a walk. Both runners advanced on Greinke's wild pitch, and Arenado, in an eight-pitch at-bat, drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to right. Ryan McMahon followed with an RBI double.

Tapia's game-tying heroics in the sixth were short-lived. The Astros blistered the Rockies' bullpen for six runs between the sixth and seventh innings, all but erasing any euphoria they felt earlier after taking away some of the shine off Greinke's Astros debut.

"I thought we had good at-bats against him," said Murphy, who carried a .379 career average vs. Greinke into this game. "Zack is stubborn. You're going to get any pitch in any count, and he proved that again this evening. I thought we had some really good at-bats, had some traffic out there, especially answering back once they scored. That's all we can do as an offense, is stack up as many good at-bats as we can."

The Rockies had already faced Greinke four times this year, putting a unique twist on the right-hander's Houston debut. Greinke, acquired minutes before the July 31 Trade Deadline was to expire, was switching teams, switching leagues and pitching in a ballpark he had limited exposure to in the past.

The only thing familiar to Greinke on this night, in fact, was his opponent. That element added to the disappointment of the Rockies' loss, given they were familiar with his work, and twice had him on the ropes.

"For me personally, I enjoy facing Zack," Murphy said. "Not because I think I'm going to have success, but because he plays chess out there. I kind of like that. I looked at [the schedule] and saw it and said, 'Oh, how unique that he goes to a completely different league, and we're going to see him his first start.'"

Milestone for Arenado

Arenado's sacrifice fly brought him to 700 RBIs in his career. He joined Todd Helton (1,406), Larry Walker (848), Dante Bichette (826), Carlos González (749) and Vinny Castilla (745) as the only players in Rockies history who have collected 700 or more RBIs.