CHICAGO -- The Rockies’ bullpen is full of youthful electricity. But sometimes the currents buzz out of control -- like Monday night, when Seth Halvorsen’s 99 mph fastball to Matt Shaw resulted in the bases-loaded walk that ended a 5-4 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The bigger nightmare belonged to Juan Mejia, whose arm deserted him with two walks and a throwing error that loaded the bases with no outs and a one-run lead. Halvorsen gave up Pedro Ramírez’s game-tying RBI single before walking Shaw on five pitches.
Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer has not named a closer, preferring to match up late in games. But Monday showed that no strategy matters if the pitchers miss home plate.
Rookie Cole Carrigg’s third home run in seven games since he was called up from Triple-A Albuquerque gave the Rockies a 4-2 lead in the eighth.
But in the bottom of the eighth, Victor Vodnik walked two and yielded a run in his return from missing three and a half weeks with right ulnar nerve inflammation. Mejia replaced him and promptly struck out Michael Busch. Then the ninth spun out of control.
A closer-by-committee system can work, or it can produce a chairman. But with the Rockies holding an 8-10 record in one-run games and 5-11 in two-run games, not enough folks are pitching well enough to settle tight games for the 27-46 club.
“We have multiple guys that can do that,” Schaeffer said. “We have a 'pen actually full of them. ‘Senza’ [Antonio Senzatela] can do it. Halvorsen can do it. Vodnik can do it. Mejia can do it. [Brennan] Bernardino can do it. We've seen [Zach] Agnos do it. Jaden [Hill] can do it.
“We have a whole slew of guys that can close games down. It's the last three outs of a ballgame, just didn't get [it] done.”
Nearly every aforementioned reliever had a shot before the end Monday night. Most wobbled.
Senzatela, whose 2.29 ERA has made him Colorado's best reliever this season, walked Moisés Ballesteros with two outs in the sixth before Shaw knocked a barely-fair triple to right. Hill replaced Bernardino in a wobbly seventh and walked his first batter before striking out Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner to end the frame. But Mejia and Halvorsen managed just one out total.
Righty starter Michael Lorenzen, who held the Cubs to one run in five innings for the second straight start as he emerged from a slump, said talented arms rise to the top.
“You’re going to have games like today where you walk some guys,” Lorenzen said. “If we focus on just that, it’s just going to spiral. Just move on. That’s the most important thing about being a reliever, being able to bounce back and show up the next day and not let one outing go into the next.
“When you have a group of younger guys -- guys who are absolute studs -- that’s more of the skill you need to learn. You’re trying to support them to show up tomorrow, ready to roll. Get back out there. You’re going to have nights like tonight. That doesn’t define who you are.”