Story breaks up no-hitter, but Rox fall to Phils
PHILADELPHIA -- Trevor Story saved the Rockies from the ignominy of a no-hitter, but as has been the case recently, he couldn't prevent another loss.Story's RBI double with two outs in the seventh ended Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez's no-hit bid, and the Rockies fell, 9-3, on Thursday afternoon at Citizens
PHILADELPHIA --
Story's RBI double with two outs in the seventh ended Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez's no-hit bid, and the Rockies fell, 9-3, on Thursday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. Colorado has lost 10 of its past 13 games.
Story's double was part of a two-run rally to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Phillies scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to ensure taking two of three in the series. Rookie
But the Rockies couldn't solve Velasquez.
"[Velazquez] was tough. He was throwing his fastball up in the zone, and he's got some life on it, and that makes it tough to square it up," Story said. "His breaking stuff was really good today. It was just a tough day for us."
"More than anything, the fastball had some life to it, and we chased at the top of the zone probably a little bit too much." Rockies manager Bud Black said.
Story's eighth-inning single ended a perfect-game bid from the Padres'
It set up the sizzling Story, who has hit .330 (35-of-106) since he broke up Lyles' perfect-game bid. Story entered the game tied for the National League lead in RBIs. He lined a 2-2 pitch into the left-field corner to deliver his 50th RBI, as he builds a case for All-Star Game votes, and prompted Velasquez's exit at 105 pitches.
"I was just getting ready for the fastball," Story said. "It's a good fastball, but it was a breaking ball, a little up, where I could handle it."
But Rockies starter
"[Marquez] pitched much better than the line indicated," Black said. "A couple of mistakes to Hoskins on the first-pitch fastball -- looked to be down the middle -- and then the breaking ball to Williams didn't quite get where it needed to.
"It's a shame that Marquez got tagged with as many runs that he did. He threw the ball pretty well."
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Black was forced into tough decisions in the seventh that didn't go the Rockies' way. When Marquez walked Crawford on four pitches to run his pitch count to 112 and load the bases, Black replaced his starter with Jake Mcgee. The lefty reliever coaxed a fly ball from Hernandez, and after a passed ball allowed Knapp to score, McGee allowed a double to Hoskins, who entered with a .277 average and a .426 slugging percentage against lefties.
"This kid, Hoskins, the first time we've seen him live. He wants the ball out away from him so he can get his arms out there and pull the ball," Black said. "Jake missed his spot. The ball was out over the plate."
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
The seventh-inning rally was cut short after Hunter struck out
"When we got [Velasquez] out of the game, we had a little bit of a rough call on the Desmond foul tip. The catcher missed the ball because of the foul tip that wasn't called," Black said.
UP NEXT
Rockies righty
Thomas Harding has covered the Rockies since 2000, and for MLB.com since 2002. Follow him on Twitter and like his Facebook page.