With hardly any time to digest the Rockies’ five-run, ninth-inning rally from Game 1, the Reds came out of the gates blazing for the second act of Sunday’s day-night doubleheader.
But there would be no revenge, as the bullpen blew another large lead to seal the Reds’ third straight series defeat with a 10-5 loss at Coors Field.
The Rockies rallied for three in the seventh and five in the eighth, racking up five runs off right-hander Carlos Contreras across that span.
Sunday’s devastating turn of events has the Reds 4 1/2 games out of the second National League Wild Card. It also had manager Bryan Price nearly speechless.
“I wish I had more for you,” Price said. “I don’t know what to say. The first one got away from us and the second one got away from us.”
Although it wasn’t quite the four-run advantage Aroldis Chapman and J.J. Hoover burned through in Game 1, Contreras came on in the seventh to hold the Reds’ 5-2 lead.
After registering his first out in routine fashion, Contreras allowed the next two to reach, setting up an RBI single from Corey Dickerson. With the bases loaded following Michael Cuddyer’s single, Contreras gave his defense a chance for a double play by coaxing Nolan Arenado into a ground ball right to Ramon Santiago at third.
Instead of going 5-4-3, Santiago chose to take the unassisted out at third, hustling to the bag to beat Dickerson. With not much time to force the off-balance throw to first, Santiago missed his mark by a large margin, allowing two runs to score as the ball ricocheted off the home dugout into no-man’s land.
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