Rockies end drought, but miss out on big chance

MIAMI -- In the eighth inning of Friday's 5-1 loss to the Marlins, the Rockies were in business in a one-run game when Ben Paulsen notched a leadoff double to begin the frame.

The double came off hard-throwing Miami reliever Carter Capps, but second base is as far as Paulsen ventured.

That's because Nick Hundley and pinch-hitter Rafael Ynoa followed with back-to-back strikeouts at the hands of Capps, before Charlie Blackmon popped out to short to end the threat. The Marlins then opened up a four-run advantage in the bottom half of the eighth on a three-run homer by J.T. Realmuto.

"We haven't certainly got the timely hit here the last couple days," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "We've been doing that pretty well over the last couple weeks. We just have to fight through these tough times when they show up."

An inning earlier, the offense ended its 17-inning scoreless streak when Carlos Gonzalez connected on a solo home run to cut the deficit in half. It was Colorado's first run since the seventh inning of Wednesday's home loss to St. Louis, but the Rockies couldn't keep that momentum going in Friday's eighth.

Video: COL@MIA: CarGo homers to pull Rox within a run

"This is the big leagues. This is a hard game," left fielder Corey Dickerson said. "Those guys are good; that's why they're up here. All we can do is battle every day and have a plan when we're up there. We just need to put something together consistently."

Dickerson doubled for one of Colorado's seven hits. Miami rookie Jose Urena stifled the Rockies for the first 6 2/3 innings, as he was helped out by a pair of double-play balls on the way to his one-run outing.

In all, Colorado has scored just one run in its last 20 innings.

"[Urena] made us hit the ball on the ground a lot tonight," Weiss said. "We hit into some double plays and had a hard time stringing any hits together."